[Dailydrool] Linus ATB with Sadie ATB

[lea pierce]

Dear Droolers,

I'm writing tonight not for myself and the Adm. (thank God)--yet I am, in a
sense. I am writing in honor of my good friends JoAnn Beebee and her
husband Scott, both activists in Golden Gate Basset Rescue.They had to send
their old boy Linus to the Bridge tonight.

It was time. It was right. It sucks.

Linus was a fine old fella, at 14; but the last year or so was hard. A bit
over a year ago, he lost his life-mate, Sadie; She went to the bridge. Ever
after, he would go out to the backyard and lie in the spot Sadie laid in
for years. And they say dogs don't know this stuff. Right.

Linus was never right after Sadie died. None of us are, after we lose our
life-mates. Why we expect dogs to get over it, I don't know. After Sadie
walked over the Bridge to that sunlit field of frolic and eternal
banqueting and counter-crawling, Linus survived bloat. I remember well the
story JoAnn told about how she and Scott went careening down the mountain
in their RV to get Linus to the vet in that critical 30 minutes. And how
they decided, that Christmas, that their gift to one another was the $10k
they had shelled out in basset care that year. They were not unhappy. We
are all glad to do what we can for our hounds.

I am reminded, tonight, by how many hounds and Houndservants on this list
are struggling--with problems big and small. With undiagnosed lumps and
bumps, blood in the urine, pseudomonas (sp?) in regular (and irregular)
places. It is not easy, this thing called living.

And yet, these Hounds Majestic are one of the things--if not the main
thing,for many of us--that make life worth the living. Oh, sure, our hounds
may ocassionally snap out of pain and confusion--but never out of malice.
And even at the very end, our hounds give us that one thing that all of us
cannot, will not, live without, and that is the experience of unconditional
love. Of companionship that does not falter. And that is why we rack up
credit cards or pay the mortgage late or do whatever is necessary so they
get the care they need--regular or irregular, a trip to diagnose a gunky
ear or a terrifying race down the mountain to save an aging hound.

For me, bassets have been the way back to life after devastating loss. My
life partner, De-Anna, went to the human version of the Bridge last
January--coming up on 2 years ago. (Extremely hard to believe it has been
almost 2 years.)

Three months after her death, to the day, Golden Gate Basset Rescue
entrusted me with my first basset, Percy. He died just shy of 2 months
later, from bloat--while I was working. I did not find him until the next
day. It was one of the worst days of my life, thinking somehow that wiley
hound has escaped. GGBR members immediately called up and were organizing a
house-to-house search. It proved heart-breakingly unnecessary. But is says
everything about GGBR--and the people on this list--that a small battalion
of people would drop EVERYTHING to help me locate my hound.

That day, about 18 hours after he went missing, when I found Percy halfway
under an outbuilding, stiff, it was almost more than I could bear.  Because
in those two months I learned full well the healing power of drool, the
magnificent heart of these pygmy beasties--and those who care for them.
Grace entered my life with Percy, behind a goofy face and a extra-long
hound body that loved slamming into me at full speed just to say, "yup,
yup, I love ya, yup I DO!" Silky ears down the to ground, big old cold
snuffle nose, and (I swear) a smile never ending. He was so damned glad to
be alive, he made me happy to get up in the morning. No small achievement
for 55 pounds of hound.

Golden Gate Basset Rescue did not shame me or blame me for his death,
although I very much blamed myself; in fact, I was told over and over again
that "Percy will send his replacement." And so he did. August of last year,
the Admiral came aboard, christened the HMS Certifiable with his sacred
drool, and here we are today.

And a most excellent bonus happened: I was taken in by other basset lovers.
JoAnn and Scott invited me to Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner with their
sprawling family. Somehow, becoming guardian to a basset made me part of a
huge, sprawling, drooling new pack--many whom I have never met. And it gave
me a focus. Doing everything I can possibly do for Golden Gate Basset
Rescue--from adopting to transporting to fostering to events to
fundraising--has given my life meaning and purpose and focus during a time
when I was cast adrift in every meaningful way.

So this is all to say that, as I weep with JoAnn and Scott over the death
of Linus, I also rejoice because these bassets, these crazy, funny,
demanding, loving, giving, magnificent, wiley, can't-take-'em-serious,
can't-live-without-em bassets, have given me the ability to know that death
truly has no dominion.

Adm. says, "One more angel walks the Rainbow Bridge tonight. We shall look
for Linus' bright, shining spirit when our Tour of Duty is Over."

Adm. watches from the bow of the ship; "Ahrooo! Ahrooo! Ahrooo!" sings out
over the waves in honor of Linus and his beloved Sadie.

Thank you for listening tonight. Drool to all,

Lea Pierce
Houndslave to Adm. JED
Activist, Golden Gate Basset Rescue
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.dailydrool.org/pipermail/dailydrool-dailydrool.org/attachments/20131023/f0aad6b2/attachment-0001.htm>