The passing of the baton

Must be puppy season. Lots of people I know have new puppies right now. Getting a puppy is always a personally momentous occasion, since it inalterably changes the patterns and rhythms of your life. And everyone who's had one knows how much work puppies are. They require changes in your schedule, in your focus, in your routines. They have high energy and high needs. And they are cute, so that you can tolerate all the rest of the package until they start to learn the rules and grow a brain, and become, not just less work, but your friend, and if you're lucky, your partner.

My friend Sally has a wonderful old German Shepherd girl, Abbey. Abbey's getting on in years, slowing down and showing her age. In her heyday, Abbey probably would not have been very receptive to the idea of Sally bringing a puppy into the picture. But things change; personalities mellow, and we learn different ways of taking care of one another as we go along. And so Sally and Abbey came to an agreement, and the search for and wait for the right puppy began.

Recently, Abbey joined Sally in welcoming Harry (since renamed Hawkeye) into their lives and home. I've been led to believe that it was a real "When Harry Met Sally" moment when Sally and this puppy found one another.

Sally and Abbey have always taken good care of one another. During their years together they have, as is true in all healthy relationships, been both teacher and student to one another. They have traveled together and grown together. It has always been a privilege to glimpse the caring they share. And now, in a new way of taking care of Sally, Abbey has, quite literally, passed the baton. She brought Hawkeye a stick.



Welcome, Hawkeye. You have no idea of what wonderful adventures await you.