This is Bodhi responding to my recall command while we were outside in the pasture. He appears to be in a real bonding phase and is quite responsive. That is one of the reasons I think it is a good idea to move him on to his permanent home quickly. It is not fair to him, or his future owners, for him to spend the time and energy bonding with me. But, oh how I love it. How could I not? Look at what a joyful worker he is! Makes me wish we had the space and money to keep one more. Alas, it is not to be. We need to have room to help that next dog in need. And rest assured, there will be one. Someday there will be no need for rescues, but today is not that day.

Bodhi is so refreshing to have around. He reminds me of a five year old child who sees everything as new and exciting. His name is fitting. There is a Buddhist term, bodhisattva, that means ” a person who is able to reach nirvana but delays doing so out of compassion in order to save suffering beings”. Bodhi has certainly brought much happiness to our home. I’m sure he will spread happiness wherever he goes as well.

One of the things that has helped Bodhi to be a good guest, is that we keep him well exercised. In the mornings, he has play time indoors. He chews bones and plays with other assorted toys. When he gets bored with that, he tries to entice the other dogs to play with him. Then he’ll move on to the cats. They all usually stare at him like he is an alien. Once in a while Zekie will play with him a little. Usually, one of us humans ends up playing with him. My husband tosses a rubber bone for him to fetch. I will play tug with him. He really likes it when I hold one of his Nylabones while he chews on it. He finds it to be much more fun than when he holds it himself. One of the toys that was in the large paper bag of things that he arrived with is a talking ball. Bodhi loves his talking ball while we do not! It talks every time it is bumped, moved, or picked up. It says things such as “walk the dog” in a maniacal voice. I put it up on the shelf for most of his stay with us. Perhaps his new owners will be more tolerant. I find it to be the equivalent of someone giving a drum set to a toddler.

By afternoon, it has warmed up and we put all the dogs in the pasture to enjoy the outdoors. Bodhi goes in the pasture only when I am going to be within sight. This is where he releases his puppy zoomies and gets his serious exercise for the day. He is so fast! We throw the frisbee and the jolly ball for the dogs. In typical sheltie fashion, Bodhi does not chase the toys. He chases the other dogs while they are chasing the toys. Claire does the same thing. Shelties are bred to herd moving animals. They get the same amount of exercise, so it doesn’t matter to us. After all this exercise, Bodhi is a tired boy by supper time. He plays with bones and toys in the evening but is much calmer and sometimes lays down and has a nap or wants to snuggle.

It’s time to announce that Bodhi went to his new home on Monday! I am sad and happy at the same time. Our dogs and cats are relieved. I am sad for the obvious reasons. I miss Bodhi. Our house is so quiet and still. I loved the little guy. If things were different, I would have loved to add him to our pack. I am also happy for Bodhi to have a wonderful new home with two girls to play with and love him in addition to the parents and a canine sibling. The family is a repeat adopter from our rescue. That’s where they got their current dog, also a sheltie. So, I am not worried about Bodhi’s well-being, and they live nearby so there is even a chance I may get to see him again. This does make giving him up a little easier, and for me to employ my self-help mechanism of pretending that someone is taking care of the dog for me. We have fostered close to 60 shelties over the years, so I have a very large family of dogs spread across Ohio, and into Pennsylvania and Michigan! And in a way, it is true, all these dogs are mine. Every dog that we have fostered has taken a part of my heart with them. Fortunately, they leave me a part of their hearts, so my heart is always full.

My dear friend Becky passed away in 2016 and I have missed her ever since. Recently, I have received some gifts from her, and from her sister Karen who mailed them to me.

In the first mailing, I received a Chestnut Burr yearbook, which was published annually until recently. It is the yearbook for Kent State University (KSU) where Becky and I met in our first year of college at the Tuscarawas Branch Campus of KSU way back in the fall of 1981. There was a group of us that met and developed friendships that lasted for many years. We went on to finish our degrees at the main campus. Becky and I eventually became best friends and had many adventures together over the years.

Also, in that first mailing from Karen was Becky’s photo album of our trip to Maine in September of 1998. I have many photos from that trip as well and looking through Becky’s album brought back so many cherished memories. We had so much fun, and I think that trip played a part in the people we were to become forever after.

A week later, a second mailing from Becky’s sister arrived on my doorstep. It contained three things. A charm for a friendship bracelet that Becky had started for each of us. A silver necklace with a looping pendant that has the engraving, “I am thankful that in God’s design, he planned it, so your path crossed mine”. Karen said that Becky had set the necklace aside for me to be my Christmas present the year that she died.

The third thing in the box is something that is even more dear to me. It is a ring that Becky bought for herself on our Maine trip. It has a sapphire tourmaline which is the state stone of Maine. I have one that is nearly identical except that the stone is rose tourmaline. We knew that Becky was going to die soon when I made what turned out to be my last visit to see her in May of 2016. I asked her if I could have her ring later on if she had no other plans for it. She responded, “I would be honored for you to have it”.

Becky’s family lives far away from me and life eventually goes on. That ring came “home” to me earlier this week. I am so thankful to Becky’s family for sharing it with me. If anything, it is even more meaningful to me now. I put the ring on as soon as I took it out of the shipping box. I have not taken it off and do not intend to any time soon. I feel a connection to Becky that I haven’t felt for a long time. We were the type of friends who became more like sisters over the years.

This ring is especially meaningful to me not only because we purchased them together in Maine, although there is that. Becky and I were both recently divorced when we went on that trip, and we were celebrating our independence as well as our friendship. We put the rings on and announced that we were married to ourselves, and the rings symbolized that we didn’t need any man to take care of us and make us whole! (I am happily remarried now because I want to be.)

I plan to eventually have the stones from each of our rings put into one setting that I can wear as a remembrance of two friends, one friendship come together. For now, I am content to wear Becky’s ring and think of her.

Becky and I had many other fun times over the years and spent many a weekend together. I don’t remember us ever having a fight or harsh words. I am blessed to have these renewed memories of my dear friend.