WebWalker's Blog

I'm so sad. Our dearly loved pet is gone. Dagesh was nearly 13 years old, a german shepherd and pointer mixed breed dog who grew up in our household, first as our youngest son's pet and then my husband's and mine when David joined the Air Force. She had a good life till her arthritis got so bad she could not stand up, and then she lost control of her bowels, and it went downhill rapidly from there. Today when the vet said he could do nothing more to ease her suffering, we finally said goodbye and she died peacefully in our arms, just like she was going to sleep. It broke my heart because I truly believe she was a sentient being, she understood things on the level of perhaps a 4 year old child, and she was a loved member of our household. My dad used to be awestruck by how much she understood, and how she developed her own little 'language' to communicate with us. Dad used to say that if he ever had a dog again, it would be her. No, not a dog LIKE ...

Today would be my dad's 91st birthday, if he were alive. Sadly, he passed away just before his 88th birthday. Today I saw this poem by Theodore Roethke and it made me smile and reminisce of so many times with my dad, I just had to post it. I hope it causes you to pause as well and have fond rembrances of your own Daddy and times you had with him. -- Susan My Papa's Waltz by Theodore Roethke The whiskey on your breath Could make a small boy dizzy; But I hung on like death: Such waltzing was not easy. We romped until the pans Slid from the kitchen shelf; My mother's countenance Could not unfrown itself. The hand that held my wrist Was battered on one knuckle; At every step you missed My right ear scraped a buckle. You beat time on my head With a palm caked hard by dirt, Then waltzed me off to bed Still clinging to your shirt. # # #