Finally spring is here…well at least spring break…
Over break I was able to visit my family back in Jersey where I got to spend time with my mom, dad, all of my brothers, and my aunt for one morning. Of course my golden retriever, Scully, was there, too.
Scully’s turning 11 soon but has always looked like a puppy.
This break, Scully looked older than usual. With the few warts on her now white face, she looked up at me and looked so tired and old.
When she was younger, her and I would go on little adventures after I’d get out of school. I would take her on little hikes at different parks around my area. One of the places I use to take her was to this place called: Sourland Mountain Preserve. It has a bunch of narrow trails around the whole preserve that are easy to get lost up in if you don’t know the lay of the land. At one section of the preserve, there is a clump of boulders, where people can boulder, climb, or just hang out on. So one day I took Scully on one of the trails that went up to the boulders.
When we got to them, one of them called my name to sit on top. I placed my bag down next to the boulder, poured some water into Scully’s bowl and set it next to my stuff so she’d have some incentive to stay in place as I took a quick break on top of the boulder.
When I got to the top, I took a deep breath and absorbed my surroundings. Glancing back, I see Scully trying to climb up the boulder. Within that moment, she fell backwards, toppling over and hitting a nearby rock on the way down. I slid down the boulder to get to her side. She was all dirty and was clearly in pain but a big goofy smile remained on her face. We left after that, and she continued to limped around for the next week.
Looking down at her, I remembered her goofy smile that day and the rest of the little adventures we’d gone on. We just found out she may have kidney cancer. It’s surreal that she’s getting so old and may not be around much longer. I hope that she remembers our adventures, …especially the times when I didn’t put her in danger… because I know I’ll always remember.
Little Adventures 