Does It Get Any Better?

As we head into the stormy, rainy, yucky months of the Pacific Northwest, I reach deeper into my "bag of tricks" on how to give the girls the exercise they need.

Recently I have returned to walking them, at dusk, through a park that I walked Sage as a pup (as she trundled behind Murphy) and where Annie followed Sage...I remember those evenings, after I'd made dinner for my father, and visited my mother in the hospital.  Rainy, dark, sad evenings.  Those long walks gave me time to think, talk with the doctors, go over everything with my brother.  Annie, I am sure, felt all the stress.  Sage, who knows this park like the "inside of her paw," led the way, willing to take over mothering Annie.

This is a place near where I grew up.  It's been part of my whole life.  Once a military fort, now a park.

So we're back walking there.  Sage prances down the paths, enjoying the familiarity.  Willa and Annie find the wide open grassy fields perfect to play "catch me if you can" with each other.  I watch for owls, listen to the wind, and allow all those memories to come forward.

Murphy's Day.