Little Notes

~My mother emailed to let me know that Beach Dog has gone to live on a farm with plenty of fields for playing and running. She was such a sweetheart.

~Little Black Cat is still alive and well and causing trouble. My mother was on the phone with customer service and had gotten through the entire automated menu and was finally speaking to a real person when the cat grabbed the phone cord and disconnected the call. She wasn't too happy but I had to giggle when she told me the story.

~I'm really missing New England now that it's fall. Fall in the Middle East just isn't the same. There are no beautiful autumn leaves. There are no pumpkin pies. It just gets cold. I recently stumbled upon a beautiful blog whose photos just feel so cozy and familiar to me.

~I celebrated my birthday last week. We did a murder mystery party where everyone is assigned a character and spends the evening trying to figure out whodunnit. It was hard and complicated and no one correctly guessed the murderer, but we had a lot of fun and some people really embraced the costume aspect of it, which was quite entertaining.

~Speaking of parties, did I miss a worldwide agreement to stop RSVPing? Or to RSVP 'yes' and then not show up without telling the host? Or vice versa? My generation seems to be rather rude.

~Speaking of costumes, my housemate and I decided to do a duo Halloween costume this year. We wanted to do a visual pun but had a hard time coming up with one. We then moved on to wearing black dresses with paper polka dots and being a pair of dice. Or going as a mermaid and the BP oil spill. We finally settled on one that I think is pretty good and I'll tell you about soon!

~Does anyone else really love musicals? I went to elementary, middle, and high schools that all had strong music and musical theater programs. I was never a good singer, but I participated in or attended all of the productions and will now forever love musicals. I listen to their soundtracks for much of the day at work.

Ending with a sweet story:

Being a veterinarian, I had been called to examine a ten-year-old Irish wolfhound named Belker. The dog’s owners, Ron, his wife, Lisa, and their little boy, Shane, were all very attached to Belker, and they were hoping for a miracle.

I examined Belker and found he was dying of cancer. I told the family we couldn’t do anything for Belker, and offered to perform the euthanasia procedure for the old dog in their home.

As we made arrangements, Ron and Lisa told me they thought it would be good for six-year-old Shane to observe the procedure. They felt as though Shane might learn something from the experience.

The next day, I felt the familiar catch in my throat as Belker’s family surrounded him. Shane seemed so calm, petting the old dog for the last time, that I wondered if he understood what was going on. Within a few minutes, Belker slipped peacefully away.

The little boy seemed to accept Belker’s transition without any difficulty or confusion. We sat together for a while after Belker’s death, wondering aloud about the sad fact that animal lives are shorter than human lives.

Shane, who had been listening quietly, piped up, “I know why.”

Startled, we all turned to him. What came out of his mouth next stunned me. I’d never heard a more comforting explanation. He said, “People are born so that they can learn how to live a good life – like loving everybody all the time and being nice, right?”

The six-year-old continued, “Well, dogs already know how to do that, so they don’t have to stay as long.”