My Dog is Old

If she is walking for a while, she is fine. But if she sits for a long time, and this is what she mostly does, when Louise begins her walk, she is very stiff. She is old. It happened last week. I love her so much and I cannot believe she is mortal.

But when the day comes and she dies, I will be so very happy that she came into our house and lived.

I am preparing myself for the inevitable.

And while time passes and I know, too, that my own future corpse is an absolute must, I am sad to accept that I had to live during an era ruled by bullies. Bullies in the Gulf, bullies at the border, bullies giving each other demeaning nicknames, bullies who understand their ego motives as the shimmering rays of God, bullies who are rapacious and terrifying, bullies in the wood pile. And they just have to know who you’re calling.

Our dog is so sweet. She came into our house in October of 2001 and she reminds us every day what it is to be a decent mammal.