And the Journey was, and is, My Life

I was born into a family of 12. When I was six weeks old, I was adopted out so I never knew my parents.

Luckily, my new mum offered me a multitude of opportunities.

Living at the beach afforded me the liberty to socialize with many others and we would often times play ball on the sand. At other times, I soak my body in the ocean and then lollygag in the pools of water lying on the sandy beach.

I became an athlete in my youth. She enrolled me in prowess and sure-footed classes. With speed and agility, soon I competed in a series of obstacles.

I love the scent of mum. I watched her put her scent on a makeup wedge, enclose it in a plastic bag and put it in the freezer.

During the evening when she sat in her easy chair to read, sometimes I found the makeup wedge at the bottom of a vase or behind a trinket. If I found it, she gave me a treat. What a deal! I get to smell her and she gives me a treat!

Now I tell her when her blood sugars are out of whack by touching her shoulders or bumping her hip if we are on a walk.

She went away for awhile and left me with a sitter which didn't please me at all. I retaliated by no longer telling her when her sugars went awry.

It wasn't long and she enrolled me in more classes. Mum said something about "this is good therapy." Now I watch and listen to mum and do everything I am supposed to do. I am obedient and I want to please her.

Once while we shopped in a department store, I walked over to a lady four times. Mum in her quick quip and a smile on her face says, "Maybe you need a little therapy." Then mum and the lady both laughed.

Two weeks later, we shopped in another store when the same lay approached us. "Do you remember when he kept coming up to me in the store and you said, 'Maybe, you need a little therapy?'" Of course, mum remembered.

"Well, my daughter and grandson were in an automobile accident. They are all right. My daughter only got bruised by hitting the steering wheel. The accident occurred at the same time he came to me. I know he was trying to make me aware. I told my husband if I ever see that lady again, I'm going to tell her."

Often, when I encounter someone who is ill, I saddle up to them so I can comfort them. I sense when someone doesn't feel well or are sad or lonely. It is my job to make others feel better.

When I visit, say, a nursing home and the people sit side-by-side. I visit from one person to the next, but I know who is afraid of me. So, I walk past them.

When I visit a grammar school, I may walk from student to student to listen to a story they wrote so they could read it to me. Other times, students are in a circle and I am in the middle. One throws a basketball to me and I throw it to the next student until every kid has their turn to throw.

Life becomes more exciting when we drive to the city to volunteer at a children's hospital.

After our potty breaks, I lead mum first to my favorite nurse's office for a visit because I really like her. Then we head to the lunch room. I hang out with many co-workers at the different tables because I miss not seeing them. I guess I'm a social being.

Often times, I lead mum to the elevator that goes to the top floor where the executives work. There, I visit with Kathy. She gets down on her knees to hug me as I am only about as tall as mum's knees.

I lead mum to the elevator to now go to work. Some children and their parents sit in the waiting room. After we visit each child and parent, mum and I sit in a corner of the room and she reads a book to any child who wants to listen and maybe cuddle me. Often, we enter an examination room so I can calm the nervous child and parent who wait for the doctor to enter. In the hospital room, I first climb on a chair and crawl onto the bed so I can nuzzle the patient and mum might read a book to the child.

Mum follows me on our rounds from room-to-room and from floor-to-floor and offers books to the children if they would like to have one.

Visiting the hospital are long days. It's a two-hour drive each way and a two-hour visit. To recuperate from the sometimes awkward hugs by the children and my feelings for the unfortunate, afterwards mum and I go to a park so I can run and run and play ball.

When the pandemic occurred, we no longer worked at the children's hospital. Visitors were limited. Only three people were allowed in examination rooms which included the doctor, the child and the parent.

Almost four years have passed and I consider myself retired. I continue to take mum for walks four times a day which keeps me very busy.

Not really retired, now I am a member of the local DRC, Department of Research and Communication. This is when my work accelerates to a near frenzy, particularly on Mondays after tourists to the beach have left messages over the weekend.

I carefully sniff the message, making a mental note as to the identity of the messenger. Is this a stranger visiting the beach, or a neighbor or, what mum calls, a bad animal? Once I research who the depositor is, I make my final decision whether or not to leave any communication.

I'm 12-1/2 now. My arthritis and fatty tumors have slowed me down, but my spirit is as high as ever. Life has been good for me as both mum and I age together.

I am a border collie and my name is Journey. And the journey was, and is, my life.