LIfe Is Golden

Present

Girl kneels beside me on the floor and places her hand and arm underneath me to support me. "Okay boy, are you ready?" She lifts and I feel my body elevate from the floor and I'm up in her arms again. We live in a house now, and she escorts me like a king outside to do my business.I stumble over my own feet, and catch myself before I fall to the ground. Not all that different from when I was a puppy, as a matter of fact, I was nearly as clumsy now as I had been back then.

She drops down to my side, and wraps her arms around me once again to lift me up. Girl sets me once again on my feet, then looks at me with loving eyes. "How does a day on the boat sound, Fathom?" My ears perk up at the sound of the word boat and my name being mentioned in the same sentence. I always loved my days on their boat. My tail begins a steady wag.

"I'll take that as a yes." she says with a smile. I follow her down the pathway which leads to the porch steps. I stop and look at her, and she knows what that means. She gently lends down and wraps her arms around me once again. She is very patient and gentle with me in my senior years. I'm so thankful for that, and for the life that she and the rest of my family have given me. Girl pushes the door open with her back, and carries me back into the house.

"Hey, Dad?" I hear her call to him in the living room. "Can we take Fathom out on the boat this weekend?" I see Dad from out of the corner of my eye. "Of course, sweetheart," he replies. I can tell Girl is feeling very emotional today, and I feel her love radiate towards me. The entire family has grown quite fond of me, over the 15 ½ years they have had me. And the feeling is mutual towards all of them as well. I love my family.

Thinking of the boat, I am once again overwhelmed with the memories from my past. Every memory comes rushing back and I am overwhelmed with a feeling of peace and also gratitude for these sweet memories. The boat was always something that Girl and I, along with her parents, had enjoyed together. We don't have the boat anymore, it's been a long time since we moved and they had sold it. But I overheard Dad saying to Girl that tomorrow, we would rent a boat again and everything would once again be as it has been before.

I am so beyond excited. It's almost like being a puppy again. Everything about me begins to feel a bit lighter, even if it is just for a moment in time. This new found joy lives inside my heart, and it will live there for all of eternity. Because that's just how a Golden Retriever tends to beam when we are happy about something. We hold onto that spark of joy, and we never, ever let it go. We carry it in our hearts forever and ever and ever. That is how we cherish the love of each and every friend we ever make in our lives.

Dad looks at me with my head rested on his lap in anticipation of the boat ride that awaits me in the morning. He strokes my head, and he tells me "yeah, you are a good boy, Fathom. You've done such a good job with her." I know that I have, I've been there for her more than half of her life. But she has done great for me, too. And I'm so incredibly thankful for that.

I see Girl through the corner of my eye, she is carrying my bed into her room. On top of the bed, she has piled blankets and stuffies and even my favorite puppy toy. Girl bought it for me after I began acting sick and they took me to the vet to have the lump on my rear end checked out. "Does it look like it's growing to you?" she asks Dad with anxiety filling her eyes. Dad reaches down to check and feel the area she is concerned about. "I don't think so, sweetheart. But he is really old. And he has lived the greatest and most amazing life with you." I can see that Girl is about to cry again, but I intercept her by walking to her and pawing at her. It's okay, I am here now.

This just makes her start to cry harder. "I don't want it to be over yet, we still have more adventures to have." she says, looking at me with my head resting on her lap. I raise my ears a little bit to tell her, it's not over yet. The reason for that being, I will be here as long as Girl needs me to be. How do I know she still needs me? Well, it's because I still have some valuable life lessons that I need to teach Girl. And I haven't finished teaching her just yet. Only she will know when that time comes.

Girl lifts me and carries me to the spot she has set up for me in her bedroom. She places me down gently onto the bed cover with my soft blanket and my toy. The little stuffed dog she bought for me has a heartbeat that beats just as ours do. She places the puppy next to me, and the steady rhythm of his beating heart helps me relax some more, too.

She covers me with the blanket so I will stay warm and I watch her as she crawls up into her bed with her other dogs soon following behind her. I see Girl look down at me, lying curled up in the bed on the floor, and gently, ever so gently, she bends down and picks me up so I can lay on the bed with her. Dad walks in to see me curled up with Girl and the other dogs. "Do you think he knows how much I love him?" she barely manages to get the words out. "He knows," Dad reassures Girl. "He definitely knows."

I'm so excited about going on the boat tomorrow. The boat was where I made some of my happiest memories. Well, the boat and the days we spent at the beach, of course. And the park, I always loved the park when I was a young pup. I begin to close my eyes so I can return to my youth and begin to dream of those days once again. I can hear the crash of the waves along the shoreline. I feel the spray of the ocean water in my face, it is exciting and exhilarating to me. I can taste the salt of the fresh sea air. I feel the familiar hum coming from the motor of the boat. It's the best feeling in the entire world. I am happy, I am peaceful, I am free in the purest sense of being.