Tag Archives: The Art of Racing in the Rain

We Will Always Be Together…

28 Friday Oct 2011

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  Letters to each other – Okay, I will let you go first…

Mommy,  the ride over the rainbow bridge was easy. It’s beautiful here and it’s just like you said it would be. It’s very green and a perfect 70 degrees–OUR kind of weather! The first thing I saw in the sky was a beautiful rainbow; and I hope you can see it way up in the sky tomorrow when you fly over on the plane because I will be watching.  In fact, I will be watching you forever and I know you will be too. I thought we could at least write letters to each other from now on so I could tell you what I am seeing, thinking and feeling  and you could do the same. I know you will want to cause you love to write letters and you already taught me how to write on here, so I am ready.

I want you to know that I am thinking about how we did not have enough physical time on earth together, but it is said that quality is better than quantity and certainly we had that didn’t we? The only thing I remember in my life is the year before we met when you rescued me from Angels for Animals. It was hard being there for a year, because as you know I am very social, but there were too many dogs barking there all the time. We might have only had 3 years, 4 months and 8 days but every single one of them was better than the 6 I spent without you and I know you feel the same way…

 There could never be enough time with you because you took the very BEST care of me. I know I had health problems from the get go but you helped me get rid of those but no one has cured cancer yet and I don’t know why I had to get bladder cancer but you helped me through it and get over the Rainbow Bridge, which was just as hard for you, I know. I am glad I don’t have to pee every 5 minutes anymore! I can run and jump just like you said, my legs feel great and I don’t need those stupid pills which were affecting my stomach, but you already know that. You knew every nuance about me and my body usually before I did. I always said you were very smart!

I am going to miss you giving me my treats but here there are bowls of them everywhere for anyone to take, but I still loved when you fed them to me. I was thinking about how you did everything for me. You cooked for me, cleaned for me, fed me, bathed me, groomed and brushed me, walked a lot with me  at Buhl Park. (I LOVE my Red Maple Tree! ) – we did everything together didn’t we?! Most of all you loved me better than anyone. By the way, when I was getting sleepy, I heard Dr. Crago tell you how you went beyond the call of duty and no one else would have been so good to me. You really did. You are a very loyal person – Daddy has told me that too, by the way – he LOVES that about you! Well, so am I. You always said we are a lot alike and I agree. So, I will stay in your heart forever and even though I am not there where you can see me (except you do have 10,000 pictures of me!)  – I am there in your mind, your heart and our souls are forever connected. I will help you select another dog, but not immediately! I appreciated you sending me off with my favorite bones, treats and toys. Tell Aunti April thank you so much for the pillow she had made with yours and my picture on it. I loved that and it made me comfortable. I took it with me over here but that is something I cannot share because it’s so personal to me.  Did you see that I left a bunch of toys in the basket that I bequeath to the next lucky dog who gets to share their life with us. Of course NO DOG will ever replace me, I know that. I am your first doggie love and certainly the best! And only I GET A BLOG….

So now we will write letters and keep this adventure going mommy. I know you didn’t want it to end and neither do I. You and I will never have an ending, only a new beginning…With all my love and kisses, Bailey xoxooxox

Bailey it is true, we will never be apart. I am trying so hard not to put a question mark where there is a period.  Already I see you and feel you around me in everything and yes, we will continue to write each other letters – that is the perfect idea my lovely girl. I am glad you liked the tree I got you at Buhl Park – certainly this was our very special place of peace, exercise and social activity and I will visit your Red Maple all the time when I walk there. It will be awful lonely walking there without you, so when you find a dog someday for us, please make sure it likes to walk as much as you and I did, because we logged hundreds of miles and you know how I love to walk in the park. And of course you added to it’s beauty. I am so proud that each and everytime I took you there (and everywhere) we were stopped, quite literally, by people telling me how gorgeous, how soft and sweet you are. Yes you are all of that and so much more.

When I was crying my eyes out this morning ( and for the last month) and told you that you are the best dog, I loved that each time I said it, you kissed my lips right at that very moment. You KNEW you are the best girl ever. Just like when I met Russell, you too gave me a one true kiss and then I knew – just like I did with him. You are so right, there will never be another you as you are my first and forever my doggie love. Again, I will await the sign from you, because you chose me too you know, so we both have good taste and we can easily recognize the good people from the bad ones.

We were so lucky to find each other. You know, many people do not take a chance on a senior dog, but I am sure glad we did. More people should but I can understand that it can be very hard to not have the quantity of time one would like to have, but the quality is something I would never trade. You have taught me so much and I can never thank you enough; well maybe I did. You got to have a great senior life and that was the goal. You got to go for 10,000 rides in 2 different cars, trips to FL, two houses, and countless rotisserie chickens, and low sodium turkey, your own doggie beach and boat and we made many, many doggie friends along the way. If only I could have taken you on a cruise that would have been the best! Someday I think there will be something like that!

Speaking of which, remember I told you to look for certain people: Barkley is there – find her because you two loved each other and I know you miss her because you were sniffing over at John & Tracy’s everyday since she went over the Rainbow Bridge so kiss her too for me….Also find Bingo Foley and Marlowe Sulski and if you can find Tarzan, Cheetah and Freedom for me – yes they are cats, but you like cats; especially their food and I know they would share with you!  Give them all my hugs and kisses okay?  You never got to meet Bingo or Marlowe, but I know you would love them. Bingo is a boy and Marlowe is obviously a girl, like you. And according to her also-very-devoted and very special Daddy Jeff, much like you! Feisty, tenacious, beautiful, loyal and loving – one rarely experiences all those great qualities in people – but those of us in the know – realize that you all have it going on way better than humans do. No one loves unconditionally like a dog; especially you, my perfect one.

It’s been a long day for both of us my sweet girl. I will look for you as I fly the sky tomorrow. I will be wearing red, just like you, so look for me and we will send a sign to each other. Goodnight for now my Bailey. Here is to our new beginning..

 We both love you so very much xxxoxoox

PS:  Safari is sitting here next to me on the desk as I write to you. He wants me to tell you that he did not eat much of his dinner cause he is not sure where you went; it might take him a while. You know, as I like to say, a cat is and dog does.

After She Finished the Book

16 Monday Mar 2009

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me-my-mommy-feb-9Mommy finished The Art of Racing in the Rain By Garth Stein this morning. She was crying so hard she could not even breathe and it was scaring me. I decided to write again because she was just so worked up. She said it was one of the top five best books she has ever read–and she has read a lot of books!

Of course she was hugging and kissing me so much while crying because it was told by Enzo the dog, whom I think she became very fond of, even though it was simply a charachter. But I think she felt Enzo could have been anyone’s special dog companion.

I love that mommy loves me and Safari so much. We love her too. I kiss her on the lips all the time. I like her bright pink MAC lipstick best. She told me its name was maaaarvelous (spelled like that) which they do not make anymore, so I am getting in all the licks I can while she still has some. She really has become so enthralled with me. Safari gets mad sometimes, but he likes me in general cause I kiss him too. I am a big kisser just like mommy. She notices the funniest things about me like when I go outside to pee. She told me this morning while I was doing my business that I go into a pleae, just like a beautiful ballet dancer! I think she tells me how beautiful I am at least 100 times a day. She is always wanting to photograph me and I don’t really mind, so I let her even though the flash on the camera is too bright for my big brown eyes.

I know I could not have gotten rescued by anyone better. In the book she was reading, Enzo was Denny’s from the time he was a puppy. We did not have that luxury. Last night she was staring into my eyes (which look much like hers) and telling me that I must have been THE CUTEST puppy ever. And when were at the Farmer’s Market on Saturday (one of my favorite things to do!) everyone tells me what a cute puppy  I am! HA!  They think I am a puppy! I like that! I guess I look good for my age – which will be 8 on May 23rd. She takes excellent care of me and that will help keep me young!

Today we went to The Garden Corner so daddy could look for some supplies for the garden and then we went running and playing in the park which was a lot of fun. I smelled everything. A lot of dogs go there and when I walk my nose is like a vacuum, inhaling every scent on each  blade of grass and patch of sand. I have to say that the grass is much better in Western, PA where we live in the summertime. I LOVE the grass there. It is lush and so green and I want to eat it all the time, although she won’t let me because I tend to throw it up – so I do not blame her!

I just had to write today because she loved that book so much and I know she thought of me being an older dog. But I want her to know that I will be with her as long as I can because I love life with her and Russell and Safari, but most of all her. She said the book had a lot to do with destiny and I completely believe we were meant to be together. We both feel that everyday – especially when we are kissing.

 

It’s My Turn to Talk

08 Sunday Mar 2009

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just-preciousSherri is reading a great book called The Art of Racing In The Rain by Garth Stein.  It’s about a very cool dog named Enzo, but it’s about a lot of different things like love and tolerence and creating your own destiny. The book is written from Enzo’s point of view, so I asked mommy if I could talk on our blog this week and she said, “of course!”

I believe that she was my destiny. I know she wonders how I wound up at Angels for Animals all the time. It drives her crazy that she doesn’t know where I came from. I wish I could tell her if I could talk with words. I wish Angels had more information about me for her. But, what I want her to know, is that it does not matter because everything in both of our lives was leading up to the evening of Friday,June 20th, 2008 when she came to see me after getting an email about me from www.petfinder.com.

I was irrisistable the minute she met me– I know that! And I fell in love with her. I kissed her right away so she would know I thought she was my special person as soon as we got into the “meeting room.” She wanted to see if I liked cats because they brought one in to see how I would react. I could have cared less, but that cat was not happy! I thought it was funny! I figured she must have been living with a cat and she did have a cat named Safari, who I like very much.

Then she asked if she could take me outside for a walk! How did she know I LOVED WALKS! So we went for a walk around the building and she asked me if I wanted to go home with her and live. I looked at her with my big brown eyes which told her that I did! Next, she took me back inside and told the people who worked there that she was taking me home. They said, “Really? ” She replied that she was! I was SO happy I could have cried!

I had to wait in the special room while all the paperwork was being readied. Mommy told me a funny story later that when she went to pay the adoption fee of $120, that the lady in the office said she had to call Maryann. Sherri did not know who she was, but I used to sit under her desk in the office they told her. “Oh, Maryann is not going to believe Bailey is getting adopted. She will be so upset that she is not here to say goodbye!” When the lady called Maryann on the phone, Sherri was writing out the check at the office window, listening to the lady talk to her and then she told Sherri that Maryann had said that she had better take very good care of me or she was going to come after her! Sherri became my mommy at that very instant. “If she knew me, she would love me and know that I will take the very best care of Bailey – she will have a fabulous life with us,” she replied with fervor!

She bought me a leash and said, “I am springing you loose!” She called her sister, April, immediately, who she knew would LOVE the fact she was finally getting a dog. April and her family share their home with THREE dogs.

I met Sherri’s special person right away because he knew we were on the way and was wiating outside for us to arrive. Russell’s first reaction was, “she big!”

When they first thought about getting a dog it was going to be a small, purebred dog. But Sherri was very intersted in Border Collies like me because I am so smart. I am mixed a little bit with something, but Dr. Tom Crago, my vet, says he only sees Collie in me and Sherri agrees.

When I first arrived, I had some problems like peeing in the house, pooping too much and throwing up, which made Russell not so tolerent. They had a big fight one night when he wanted to get rid of me! Sherri never told me that, but I knew I was the subject fo their big fight. She ran to her friend’s house, crying. Obviously, i got to stay, thankfully!

With a lot of work by Dr Tom and Sherri, I am on a special diet, which I have to follow very strictly. I have allergies and that is why I was throwing up and stuff.  The peeing in the house was only leaking due to the fact that I am a bit incontinent because I was spayed too early – I am on a ppe-pee pill for that now and I am good! I have a very sensitive system and it took a while to figure that out. I love to eat but Sherri does not let me overeat–even though I want to–Sherri knows what is best even though I want hamburgers! She gives me teeny bit of other stuff sometimes. Russell thinks it’s teasing me, but she does it so I do not get sick!

I am a very happy girl. I love that mommy and daddy both work at home and are with me and Safari all the time! A couple of weeks ago they took a cruise for one week but they had Beverly stay with me. I like Bev a lot. It was her house Sherri ran to that night Russell was having second thoughts. Bev saw Sherri through that terrible night and she is our true and special friend. We love her. She took great care of me but I know she missed her dog, Shelly while staying with me. I will see them when we go back to PA this summer.

I have a great life. I spend the winter in Florida and the summers in Western Pennsylvania. What could be better than that? Our neighbor, Johnny, back in PA told me that I was a dog that hit the lotto when she brought me home.

Sherri says we both did and that is why I love her. We might not be able to talk with exact words, but we communicate very well. I know a lot of words like food, ride in the car, gotta go pee? let’s go for a walk, kisses, time for a bath, let’s go to Dog Beach….there are a lot of words I know, but LOVE is my very favorite.