Memories of a Dog

It is important to realize that the bonds we form with animals have real meaning.  It is, at times, the only thing in life that seems to be normal and consistent.  Relationships with family members and colleagues can be stressful and challenging as we go through life, but it is relationships with animals, like dogs, that provide refuge from these trying times.

I loved my dog. She was a companion that I had great affection for and I respected her presence in my life.  She died the day before Thanksgiving this year and I still feel her presence in our home.  For over 13 years she was part of our family. Her influence on our lives was positive and heartening. She was our family, and we very much appreciated what she brought to us in love, loyalty and affection.  She is now missing from our lives every day. Life continues without her with us here at home.

I have often written and published in this blog about the need to protect living species. It seems like this calling for me, at times, is like shouting into the wind, which is unsustainable and seemingly futile. Except now when you equate it to the love of a dog, I feel it has more meaning. That life, with all its complexities and mysteries, is an endless struggle for relevance. Love for family and for the influences in our life has meaning.  It gives meaning to us.

I have turtles, fish and a gecko in my home.  I watch birds flying overhead, engage with backyard garden-marauding rabbits and I witness high dexterity squirrels. I see flocks of soaring geese and I watch ducks land gracefully onto nearby ponds. The environment we have been given supports all living creatures so they can live their lives. This includes humans and how we navigate through what we do in life. It seems that living is more conceptual than ever. To live means to have cognition and a sense of being that becomes increasingly viral as complexities manifest themselves. To have life means to have beaten back the chaos of the universe for a time and to hold your ground as the cosmic orchestrations of existence plays out around you.

I want to express my love for life on this planet and my concern for its fragility. The complexity of it all can be taken away in an instant and it is part of what it means to be human to acknowledge this and to see the need to protect and preserve life-supporting ecosystems everywhere.