Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Madison Junction















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To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring - it was peace. ~Milan Kundera

I'm laying here in bed typing this with Maddie's head laying on my foot. Maddie has been my faithful companion for a bit over 12 years now. She moved in with me as a puppy back when I lived in Toledo, Ohio. She was hell on paws. She never stopped barking, digging, chewing, howling, destroying, running, more chewing, whining, jumping, and more destroying until she turned two. My poor father had to repair more carpet and walls than either of us will admit to my past landlords. I remember once when she was about two and a half she was laying on the floor next to me and she just reached out and started to chew on the wall. She hadn't done that since 6 months earlier - I said "Maddie what are you doing?!". She looked at the wall and then at me - "I have no idea what that was all about" was the look on her face. She quit chewing on the walls right then and has been a perfect companion ever since. I don't think either of us liked each other those first two years but it has been her and me against the world ever since. This dog never did like the outdoors in Ohio. I tried taking her for hikes in the few woods we could find and she always walked like she was stepping in something unsavory. She preferred walking down sidewalks. I couldn't believe that I lived with a "city dog". We moved to the Utah desert when she was a little over a year old. Oh Boy, she was not a city dog, she was a desert dog! She LOVED the desert. Chasing lizards, playing in mud puddles, smelling coyote droppings, rolling in dead cows, finding trails through the sage, barking at ravens, climbing up rock walls like a mountain goat. It was all heaven to her. She even learned to stop and hold her paw in the air after stepping on a cactus. Maddie would stay there until I found her and pulled it out. We used to hike miles and miles with her running up ahead, popping her head up every once in awhile to see where I was and then back to sniffing and running. We had hundreds of miles of trails to explore together and years to do it in. Maddie's twelve and a half now. Both of us are slow these days and our hikes right now are less than a mile with more sniffing than running. I think she enjoys Arizona and her favorite thing to do is walk the rim of the canyon at night meeting people and looking over the edge. One constant that has never changed with Maddie and I is our morning ritual of waking up excited to see the day. We open a window shade, remark what a beautiful day it is, and bound out of bed ready for any adventures that come our way.
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These days Maddie does more of the bounding than I do in the mornings. I think this illness of mine has confused her. At her age I should be the one making sure that she is feeling well and is comfortable. Instead, she's volunteered for that role with me. This past bad chemo weekend she stayed on the bed with me most of the weekend. This dog loves my parents and spends most of the time during their visits following all of us around making sure she's in the middle of everything. Not this time - she just hung out with boring old sick me. Dad would be out in the lawn working on things and I'd look over at Maddie. She would be laying on the edge of the bed watching him out the window with her ears up. I'd try to get her to leave the bed and go outside with him. She would just put her head down between her paws, close her eyes, and refuse to leave my side. I'd look over a few minutes later and there she would be staring out at him again. Mom came in while I was sleeping and tried to get her to come out with them - same reaction, she wasn't budging. Finally on Sunday, when I started feeling better, she went out and laid on her favorite couch next to Dad. During the worst of it though her place was by my side.
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She moves pretty slowly these days and she groans to herself every time she lays down. 90% of her day is spent sleeping and dreaming of chasing lizards. She catches them more often now than she ever did when she was awake. I know at her age every day I have with her is a blessing. I just hope she's here long enough to see me through this and we are both able to bound out of bed again - ready for our next adventures.


1 comment:

MJ said...

This post made me cry. I love pets. They are the most loyal greatest companions.