Lincoln's Story

And what a summer it has been. It’s pretty much just like we all expected it woud be. Right now we’re on vacation for almost two weeks, and I get to swim whenever I want to. Which is pretty much all the time. I’m allowed to chase the ball again. I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed this, but once the ball embargo was lifted, I called game on like donkey kong, and we’ve been run, run, running ever since. Plus, we have happy hour almost every night where all the people and dogs hang out together and talk about their day at the lake.

The other really big news is that it’s my five month life saving anniversary on the 11th. Five months without a leg really have flown by. I hardly remember how it was at first, which sort of reminds me of this saying my Mom told me, “After the shadows, I await the light.” Well, thankfully I didn’t have to wait too long, because the sun came out almost immediately. Not surprising when you spend so much time AT THE LAKE!!

I don’t have to go back to the vet for another month or so, but to be honest, I don’t really even think about that. Since I feel so great, pretty much all I think about is what I’m going to do for fun…should I go to the winery, should I go for a swim, should I get somebody to throw me the ball, should I go explore in the vacant lot next door? The possibilities really are endless.

My Mom says I remind her of this saying she read once….

Death was afraid of him because he had the heart of a lion. ~ Saudi Arabian Proverb.

I sure hope she’s right!

In order for the light to shine so brightly, the darkness must be present.” Francis Bacon.

Well, it’s been a long time since I’ve checked in, but i suppose that’s a good thing.  We had a pretty bad day today, unfortunately.  Our dog Beau died, and I’m really going to miss him, plus it’s pretty hard on both my Mom and my Dad. We only had him for three years, and he’s one of the ones my Mom rescued from being euthanized, but we sure liked having him around. Even though he couldn’t really walk very well, he was a real character, according to my Mom. But, as my Dad says, in the end, we did right by him, and that extra three years he had was filled with a lot of love.  My Mom says you just can’t put a price on that.

It’s been crazy busy around here with the Summer of Lincoln being in full swing and all. I’m all done with chemotherapy, which evidently is a big thing, but passed me by with no aplomb at all. The one thing I did hear the humans mention is that my chest x-rays are “all clear”….what ever that means. If it leads to me spending more time swimming, then rock on, but otherwise it’s all greek to me.

Also, my three month life saving anniversary passed by with nary a trill. I’m thinking it’s because I had the dreaded appointment at the vet to make sure my lungs were all good. My Mom was pretty uptight, and even though she says she isn’t superstitious, I beg to differ, and am inclined to think that it was like a no hitter in baseball…you don’t dare speak of it while it’s going on, lest you jinx the entire thing. So, despite the fact that it was front and center on everyone’s mind, the day came and went and nobody said a word until after we got the results of the x-rays.  My Mom says we’ll have plenty to celebrate in the future, so missing one isn’t really that big of a deal.

But, the long and the short is that all is going great. As my Mom says (I think she’s trying to convice herself), “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.”  Julian of Norwich. Despite the fact that I still have the big “C’, and that we are really missing Beau, we just have to believe that, and keep on keeping on.

And by the way, so far, the Summer of Lincoln ROCKS!! I run, I swim, I play, I hang in Man Camp, I go to the winery, I roll in the grass…the list goes on. Just so everyone knows, I don’t do all of that just for me. I do it for my Mom too.  It never ceases to amaze me how somebody can be so tough and so fragile all at the same time.  Even though sometimes I act like a simple dog, I NEVER forget that I have a purpose, especially now, when she really needs me. And no, it’s not just to swim, it’s to remind my Mom that it’s safe and right and brave to live and love with abandon…no matter what tomorrow may bring, we all have to be able to say, with absolute certainty, “I loved them unconditionally and without hesitation, and that love was returned tenfold.” I can say that without a doubt. Can you?

Yes, I know that has already been a blog title, but Lincoln is taking a writing break, and I’m making a guest appearance. I think that those words apply just as much to me as to they do to Lincoln, so we’re recycling.
 
We have old dogs at our house. We have those old dogs on purpose. We rescue them when they’ve been dumped or abandoned or traded in. There has been a glorious safety in that process. When you adopt a dog at 14, you know with certainty, that you will lose that dog in the very near future. Even as you are hugging them at the shelter, you are preparing your heart to say goodbye. In our house we have said hello and quickly said goodbye more times than I care to acknowledge. We have decided that where others will walk away when agile becomes arthritic, we will be the family who shepherds the dogs through at the end. It is not easy, at times, but as I said, there is comfort in the surety.
 
Lincoln was not that dog. He was barely two when I got him from the shelter. He was supposed to be my sure thing. What is it they say about the best laid plans?
 
When he was diagnosed with the brain tumor, I folded up into my self a little. I was wholly unprepared to say goodbye. Honestly, I don’t live my life with hope and faith oozing from my pores. More often than not, I have to force myself to admit that something may work out. The brain tumor wasn’t one of those times. I accepted, fully and completely, that he was going die, and that it would be both soon and awful. And then, here we are. My canine miracle fanned that dying ember of hope that remained glowing somewhere, previously undiscovered, inside of me.
 
And then this, the cancer. Making me wonder if there is a higher power who finds more joy in snatching hope from your heart if the ember is full fledged and growing, and not sputtering its final breath. Forcing my hand to make decisions about life and death that I never imagined I would have to make. Resentment and anguish clung to me like a barnacle to a pier. We lie to ourselves, and try to believe that there really isn’t a choice. Of course we will do anything we can, but that in itself is a choice. Will the surgery kill his spirit? Will I regret it? Maybe it would be better to simply let him slide gently in to the night. Maybe this time, it is about letting go without a fight. And in that vein, who’s fight is it anyway? What right do I have to force him into battle, like a gamecock or a pitbull?
 
But in the end, the possibility of a cure pulls us into its vortex, no means of escape. We do what we can, sometimes it is hopelessly inadequate, sometimes it is everything. We rely on the most minute and infinite chances at a miracle. We hope that whomever is in control sees fit to breathe life into our dog, and that he will be the one to beat the miserable and discouraging odds. We do it because by believing in something, even something rooted in the rocky dirt of impossibility, we are not only trying to keep him alive, we recognize that it is the only way to stay alive ourselves. We realize, that by trying to save them, we are really saving ourselves, and in the end, that is what courage is all about.
 
It’s like this one saying that Lincoln told me…”It is one of the most beautiful compensations of this life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.”  Ralph Waldo Emerson

Not that I know what that means, but I heard my Mom say that’s why she gets up every morning at the crack of dawn and goes to work. Every now and again, though, we get a long weekend and we beat feet to the cabin. And every now and again, the stars align, and it all comes together and makes for a perfect get away.

Last weekend, it was barrel tasting at the wineries. I don’t actually get to drink the wine, but I always get to hang out at the winery, so it’s pretty cool. Mix that in with a LOT of swimming, a LOT of sunshine, and a LOT of friends, and it just doesn’t get much better. Below you’ll see what I did pretty much all weekend 1) swam, 2) hung out in man camp and tried to get them to give me a Manny’s Pale Ale (no dice…evidently dogs don’t get beer even when they are super hot and super tired), and 3) supervised the other dogs while they played.

                                 

So, this is pretty much how it went all weekend.  Swimming, sleeping, and supervising. These are the days we all wait for, humans and canines alike. These bright and beautiful days are the ones that make us forget about the dark times. These are the moments which dim the memory of the tears and the trauma, the surgeries and the sutures, and the days when the future looked bleak. These are the days for which we all live. It sort of reminds me of this saying my Mom told me once, “Who will tell whether one happy moment of love or the joy of breathing or walking on a bright morning and smelling the fresh air, is not worth all the suffering and effort which life implies.”  ~Erich Fromm

Who could ever know if that one, tiny, moment in time is why we’re here? I’m just going to make sure that when my moment comes, I’m ready for it. Over and over and over.

As it turns out, today is actually a pretty big day for me. It seems crazy to celebrate the anniversary of the day they cut off my leg, but we are. My Mom has been accused of being crazy (mainly by my Dad who makes a circling motion with his index finger at the side of his head and says “cuckoo, cuckoo”. My Mom says technically, that motion means she has a screw loose, and is not the motion for crazy, but that seems like a silly argument to me.) I think the whole thing is pretty funny, because when you get right down to it, my Dad really is a crack up. Plus, my Mom knows we only tease her because we love her.
 
Anyway, the way my Mom sells this whole party thing, is that we aren’t celebrating the day my leg got cut off, we are actually celebrating the day we may have saved my life. When she puts it that way, it really makes a whole bunch more sense.  Some anniversaries aren’t good ones…even I know that. Like the anniversary of the day somebody died. Those for sure are not events we celebrate AT ALL. In fact, those can be pretty sad days for my Mom.
 
That’s what makes it even more special that we are not turning March 11, 2010, into a bad day. None of us need any more sad anniversaries, but EVERYONE can use a reason to be merry. And the way I see it, if we are celebrating something (anything, really, doesn’t matter what it is), us dogs are bound to get special treatment. More treats, ice cream, bigger dinner, longer walks…the possibilities are endless.  In fact, below there is a super funny picture of me running to my Mom today. Running. Today. Isn’t it awesome, amazing and hysterical all at the same time?!  Just two months ago, I could hardly walk. For the humans, the possibilites seem to include a bottle of wine from our favorite winery (which, by the way, we can walk to from our cabin). Dogs are welcome, for anybody who decides to come and visit us at the lake…http://www.tildio.com/.
 
The short story, however, is that I’m still feeling great. I can run like the wind (well, maybe a stiff breeze is more accurate, I’d hate to exaggerate); I can swim like Michael Phelps (this one is true); I can love like I have nothing to lose (which I don’t); and, I can live like there is heaven on Earth (because there is). 

 
It’s like this saying my Mom has in one of her books, “My strength is as the strength of ten, Because my heart is pure.” Alfred Lord Tennyson
 
And it is. As pure and true as was ever possible.