[Dailydrool] Our late Jane Basset's anniversary

[Elizabeth Lindsey]

This evening is the anniversary of our sending our Jane Basset on  
ahead of us. She'd begun her day well and I was feeling hopeful, but  
by evening it was clear that she was starting to leave us and nothing  
we could do would reverse the process this time. We took her to a vet  
to speed her journey along and spare her any of the pain and fear  
that might come with it. It's hard to believe that it's been eight  
years since we made that extremely difficult decision to let her go.  
She's still very much in my thoughts and memories, and her ashes are  
in an urn, encircled by her collar, on my dresser.

Yesterday we had company--a family we got to know the summer we lived  
in northwestern North Dakota, where Ken did his required field  
education experience for the ministry. Before the Smiths came, I  
pulled out the photo album for that summer and discovered pictures of  
Jane I'd forgotten about. There she was asleep in the back seat of  
the car with her head propped at an impossible angle against the ice  
chest. There she was lying on the stairs that led up to the apartment  
we were given (before we knew anything about stairs being bad for  
basset backs). There she was lying on the rooftop deck, which in that  
photo was surrounded by water after a heavy rain storm (she was the  
only basset we knew who had her own deck AND reflecting pool). There  
she was being cuddled on the floor by Matt, the 14-year-old who was  
feeling neglected by his mom, Rachel. There she was, standing on the  
rocks that cross the headwaters of the Mississippi River in  
Minnesota--just moments before she fell into the headwaters and  
needed to be fished out.

I prepared our Elsinore (Jane's worthy successor) and young Charlie  
for the Smiths' visit, telling them that they were going to get to  
meet people who had known the Jane Basset I keep telling them about.  
So the hounds were suitably excited by the time the Smiths actually  
arrived. For the first several minutes, the Smiths looked from one  
basset to the other and found things in both that reminded them of  
the way they remembered our Jane looking. When we went inside, the  
hounds were eager to be petted, and the Smiths remarked on how they  
were just as friendly and gentle as they remembered our Jane being.

Rachel remembered going for many long walks with Jane and I that  
summer, something I'd completely forgotten about. It had been a  
difficult summer for Rachel. She'd spent the spring away from home,  
caring for her mother who then died. She returned with her 90-year- 
old father, who needed settling into an apartment and a degree of  
caring for. Looking back on it, I believe our walks together were for  
Rachel a much-needed break from family obligations and grieving.  
Jane, of course, was thrilled for all the time she got to spend  
outside sniffing the fields with us as we walked and talked.

I wish Jane were still here. I wish she and the current hounds could  
share each other's company right now. I wish Jane had been able to  
enjoy much, much better health during the second half of her life.  
But I'm glad we were able to have her in our lives for as a long as  
we did. She was a dear friend, and it was wonderful yesterday to be  
able to spend time with people who remember her as fondly as we and  
counted her as a good friend, too.

Elizabeth