Bear

I'm at home this morning contemplating Bear's future.  Last weekend he had a mini seizure when someone came to the door, nothing major, just a bit of a blip on the cognitive radar.  On Monday I took him to a vet in town; blood results showed that he probably had some internal bleeding somewhere.  Dad came up the next day to take him down to Kelowna to his old clinic where, today, they did some imaging on him.  He has a tumour, which has metastasized to his liver.

Bear's race has run and now I have to decide it's time for him to go.  It's such a hard decision, largely because I can't go down to be with him... But his grandfather is there and said he'll give him a pat on the head for me.  I'm sorry Bear, I wish I could take you out for one last walk around the block.  You were such a good, gentle dog who tolerated so much and asked for so little in return.  I wish I'd learned more lessons from you before you had to go.

I'm sure he's at the clinic now, wandering around, wagging his tail at everyone, using up every last iota of energy to make sure he's friendly with everyone he meets.  It's a good model to live by really.