On Pets

Pets brings out the child and the best in everyone.


My brother called me last week and told me his cat Louie had passed. My heart skipped a beat because he has had Louie for about 14 years.. They were roommates. When pets die, a flood of life’s memories come rushing forth.

Louie and Rick lived through a lot together. He works in the emergency room at the local hospital on twelve hour shifts.  So Louie had the job of watching the cabin.. And he was a big cat. I am sure his departure made Rick realize how much they had shared as pet and man.

When we were teenagers, I used to hear my mother in the kitchen talking out loud having a conversation. And I would think; who is here so early in the morning? There are no more milk men or Charlies’ Chips deliveries. Who is she carrying on with at 7 a.m.??? Our dog.

She would talk to Winston von Weedenhof, our St. Bernard, like he was another one of her children.. And in fact he was like our little brother.. He went everywhere, and anywhere he wanted.. all 155 lbs of him. People stopped to talk about him or to him on most of our adventures.. He was one of the family.. Everybody loved Winston..

Since I have been married, we have had lots of dogs..And each time they died, I was filled with incredible sadness and a huge void.. So much so that when we got our last set of dogs, I tried
not to get too attached in the beginning ..

But over time those two beautiful labs took me for incredible walks in the Vermont woods .
And I was talking to them also.

Dogs are people’s friends. In our town, they even created a quiet path so people could take their dogs for walks.. Dogs and cats are truly the best addition to any family or household. There is something magic about the relationship of a pet and a child.. And a pet and an adult because;

Pets brings out the child and the best in everyone..

I live on a beach now and after Labor Day, it becomes open to the dogs.
It is a beautiful parade of people walking dogs and dogs walking people.