How I miss being dragged across the park

Yesterday, when I was finishing up walking Nestle and Hattie, a woman ran by me and said, "One day, those dogs won't drag you through the park anymore." I called back, "And I'll miss that!" What she didn't know is that Daisy was at home, unable to drag me through the park anymore. It wasn't like that I particularly liked when Daisy hightailed it across the greenery with me pulling behind, what I appreciated was that Daisy was the only being (canine or human) who could push me that hard. When I needed a good run, I could count on Daisy to be the one to make sure I got it in the morning, especially when we ran by Omar's house (Omar is a Chow) because Daisy had a love-hate relationship with the birds who feed off the seed there. This morning, Daisy was waiting in the window as I took out her siblings for their run-walks. It was one of the first mornings I had seen her waiting for us in a while. I felt bad and walked her to the park, a short distance around it, and then home again. That's about all her left leg can handle with the mass on her hip. By the walk home, she was trying not to walk on it. But when we reached home, she began to chase Hattie and they played hard for awhile, something they haven't been able to do for a while either. There are no limits to what Daisy can do now. We're not holding her back, instead allowing her to live each day as fully as possible. And one day maybe I'll get over not being dragged through the park by her.

Naperville North HS Sort of Reunion

Two weeks ago, on my way back from Hong Kong, I met up with three of my high school cross country teammates. We went to lunch and ended up having dessert at Dunkin' Donuts (since there is no more Tasty Bakery downtown Naperville!). Here we are at JJ's house, left to right– Jennifer Johnson Timmons, me, Lori Ford, Cathy McKee.