Lost

Ginger has not come home. I know in my heart that she is dead. Why? Because she was old, almost blind and deaf and lately, like me, she was having trouble with her legs. Animals will go away to die. People don't usually have that option. Dogs have it right, I think. They just go and slip quietly into the other world.

Lately she had been running a lot. I like to think it was a late rally. Maybe, when she slept she dreamed of being a puppy again and when she awoke, for a time, everything was working the way it did once upon a time. Last week she kept me awake with her running laps in our bedroom. I got out of bed and let her outside where she ran some more and then came inside. It was a sweet moment ; just she and I sharing a little dark time. Looking back, I wish I had cuddled her more. I hope she knew how much I loved her. She was never more than two feet away from me, even when I showered. Always waiting for me, always there. I know that she missed the hustle and bustle of the kids, but then so do I.

The highlight of her day was dinnertime. When Lars and Belle left her alone, she would lap at her dish and then rest for a bit. In her advanced age, eating required a lot of energy. Gene souped up her food so that she could sip most of it. Loosing some of her teeth was another sign of her age.

Last Sunday she wandered outside for her nightly business trip and didn't come back. We don't know how she left, but left she did. She wandered out of our lives as quietly as she wandered into it. We love and miss her and will always.