Ode to a Friend

 

Life is only fleeting in retrospect; otherwise, timeless in the acknowledging smile, the tilt of the head when listening, the favorite pastime, the preferred sport, and the unbreakable friendship that only a buddy can provide. 

And adoption creates a special bond, one of affection in each. For both know that the number of dawn’s is metered and dusk flutters in the background. The years pass as each inexorably anticipates the other’s moods, routines, inflections. The two move to the same changing pattern of the tide.

Then, it seems, abruptly the end materializes and changes the once familiar landscape to sorrow. The melancholy of the pained perception that the end is occurring in slow motion.

Moreover, the realization that euthanasia is the only honorable action.

From Penny and Rick to our buddy, Lionel, faithful companion, resilient hiker of western peaks and ever a bright companion.