[Mary, quite old, still out-hiking Jodi and Me]
The best laid plans, eh? Yesterday I wanted to roll out a line of printing for the show this weekend. It was to be a whole day, uninterrupted, of pulling prints and setting them out to dry in time to leave tomorrow.
Then I agreed to do a favor for my friends and give Mary The Land Dog a ride to the vet. Well, it turns out that she was doing way worse and heading downhill way faster than we realized. We brought her home and and the vet came out in the afternoon to "help us say goodbye".
She was an amazing dog with the perfect temperament for her job. "Oh, there are suddenly 100 people visiting and behaving erratically? No problem. I'll just patrol the border, say hi to my friends in the crowd, and make sure everything is under control." We gave her the life that every dog wishes they had - a meadow to run and dig in, a limitless forest to explore, comfortable accomodations (including a bed next to the wood stove in her later years), food, and a huge community of friends who came "just to visit her". I'm sad to say goodbye and happy to know that she had an amazing life to match her amazing personality.
There was a small crew of us, all extremely busy people but fortunate enough to live fairly close by, who dropped everything to be there for her (and each other) on her last day. We did what needed to be done, ate and drank to her memory, and went home a little more connected to each other and to the mystery of life than when the day began.
Goodbye, Mary. There will never be another land dog quite like you.
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