Saying Goodbye to an Old Friend

I talked about this earlier in the year, our good, old dog Magic has been declining and today is the day that we will set him free from the pain, the blindness and misery that can happen to any of us after a life well lived. The story of how he came to be our dog is almost magic...

Marshall, our first dog, had passed way the summer of 1996 and in December of that year I decided a dog for Christmas would be brilliant! I called all over until I found affordable purebred lab puppies (no computer searches in those days). The puppies were in Isanti, far from me but close to my brother in-law where we would be spending Christmas. I called the breeder and he explained that there was only one left, the runt, and that someone was coming to look at him over the weekend.

Long story short, I convinced him that my family needed the dog much more than the random hunter who was coming to look at him and I promised that someone would be there by the end of the day with cash. Luckily my sister-in-law was game for this and on Christmas day the faces of the kids and Mark were priceless! That was the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

We knew right away he was an amazing dog, he learned everything so fast from potty training to hunting. One day he was laying on the floor looking at me with his ears all perked forward and I said, "Put your head down". BAM, he put his head down, now how did he know what that meant. He also instantly learned the army crawl, I don't know where he was able to use this, but he was sure good at it. He even brought Mark live ducks from the swamp that some other hunter had wounded and not found.

 

I took him to my office every day, he was the official greeter at world headquarters. Rochelle, who worked with me for 10 years, taught him to roll over, another trick he never forgot.. Thanks Rochelle! Everywhere he went people seemed to appreciate his gentle spirit and very, very shiny coat.

Our life together was better because Magic was our stabilizer. With teenagers, working parents and crazy schedules it was Magic we could all go to with our drama and our troubles. You just had to lay your head on his shoulder and you could feel the sadness or whatever ailed you begin to ease. Now it is our turn to ease his pain, Sam, Mckenzie, Mark and I will take good care of him on this final journey just as he has taken such good care of us.

We still have two dogs; Niles, the miniature greyhound, is the comedian, Jack the 105 lb black lab is, well, we still aren't sure, he is just Jack. But Magic lived up to his name, he really was magic.

Up, up and away....

The only way I seem to be able to find time to write the blog post is when I am absolutely captive, like I am now, flying to DC. No worries though because I am sitting in an exit isle, so I can help people get off after we crash AND this is a unique seat because it is a row of one. This is good for everyone on board so they don’t see/hear me jump when the wheels go up or we hit a patch of turbulence. I understand there are thunderstorms in DC… pray for me.

You may not realize this but it is butterfly season, so be on the lookout for monarchs, tiger, zebra and black swallowtails. When McKenzie was one year old I started a family tradition of looking for monarch caterpillars to bring home and watch turn into butterflies. Over the past 25 years we have had seasons with no caterpillars all the way up to 15. That was the year we brought home a milkweed with eggs on it.

Getting the caterpillar from baby to butterfly is a miraculous process. First you have to make sure you have fresh milk weeds for them to eat, we would just put them in a vase and hope they stayed on it. For about 2 weeks they eat and grow and poop.. You would be stunned by the volume these little buggers put out! Then one day they wander down to the underside of a leaf, settle in for a few hours and then bam, they make the chrysalis. It is a crazy wiggly, twisting dance that somehow turns into a light green jewel with gold specs around the top. Another 2 weeks go by, the chrysalis turns black, the butterfly emerges and we put them in garden.

This is one of my favorite memories with the kids and a tradition that was carried on this year by McKenzie (daughter). For those of you who haven’t seen her in real life I need to tell you she has the most amazing blue eyes and beautiful dark hair. She has also made the big move of buying a townhome, so it is appropriate that she started her own butterfly tradition.

Several weeks ago my sisters found a new kind of caterpillar in their garden; it was black and green, which they gave to McKenzie. She did some research, found out they eat parsley (really?) and set up her own butterfly sanctuary. Last week a most beautiful butterfly emerged, a black butterfly with blue markings- the perfect color combination in a butterfly and a young women both so ready to take their place in the world. I remember now that sometimes it is hard to let those butterflies go.