Not Just A Dog

Sadie Mae died quickly and peacefully on Saturday, October 3rd. The doctor suspected that she had developed a brain tumor that led to some sudden and significant issues. She was only happy if both Diane and I were home with her. She was agitated a bit if only one of us was home and was inconsolable if she was left alone. She would go crazy when we got home; racing around and panting until enough time had passed for her to settle back in. She also started sleeping a lot more over the last couple of weeks. 

She was unable to settle down even with people with her when we gave her a trial run at the doggy daycare in preparation for our trip to Florida to meet our new grandson, Asaph. After consulting with her doctor, we made the gut wrenching decision to euthanize her before we left on our trip. I pretty much spent the last five hours of her life stroking her as she mostly slept contentedly; the pain building in my heart along with the lump in my throat with every passing minute. The first thing Dr. Svang said when she walked into the room was, "You're doing the right thing." 

It sure didn't feel like it.

The week away was a salve for my aching heart, but coming home to an empty house is a punch in the gut.

Sadie Mae was so much more than "just a dog." She was a special companion to me through good times and bad. I work next door to the Elmbrook Humane Society. One of their volunteers was walking Sadie (they called her Blackie) past our building while we were outside at break enjoying an unseasonably warm January day. Diane and I went over to meet her that afternoon and just knew that she needed us as much as we needed her. 

She had a really rough start in her life and came with some issues as many rescues do. She transformed into my perfect canine companion after multiple visits with her doctor and several sessions with the doggy shrink at the Waukesha County Humane Animal Welfare Society.

Sadie Mae was quite sure that I couldn't eat an entire apple by myself, so she stood by staring at me knowing that I would bite off a small piece and give it to her as the first bite, another one in the middle and she always got the last bite. She also determined that Diane couldn't eat lunch without having some baby carrots on her plate destined for her. She somehow knew anytime Diane was boiling water to make noodles because she always raced in no matter how deeply she had been sleeping to eat the noodles Diane had used to test for doneness. 

No matter where she was in the house, or how deeply she was sleeping, all it took was for me to call out, "Sadie Mae come help Daddy...," with whatever task I was headed out to do. She loved things as simple as backing the truck into the garage or going out to light the grill or flip the meat. She was also an invaluable helper whenever Diane needed to fill the bird feeders or pull weeds in the garden. She just wanted to be with us whenever we did anything. 

Sadie was my constant companion during the three and a half months that Diane lived in Pennsylvania to help Matthew and Shelley during his Lymphoma treatment. She went to work with me everyday and either followed me around or sat in a spot where she could monitor my location the entire day. She slept at my feet in bed every night. 

Sadie Mae was terrified of my woodshop in the basement. She would run to the furthest reaches of the house and hide when she saw me changing into my shop shoes. During the last couple of weeks of her life, though, her need to be near me seemed to supersede her fear of the shop. Maybe that should have been a clue that things had changed for her. She even spent several hours in the shop with me a few days before she died; leaving me with a wonderful memory of our time together. 

I wake up early; even on the weekends when most people relish the chance to sleep in. Not me. I'm still typically awake and up sometime between 3:45 and 4:15. To avoid waking Diane, I would get up and go downstairs to pass the time watching some woodworkers I follow on YouTube. Sadie Mae always went with me. She curled up on her bed beside my spot on the sofa or up on the sofa and we would pass the hours until Diane got up with one hand stroking her as we watched the videos together.

Sadie couldn't easily jump onto the bed anymore so she slept on her bed on the floor beside our bed. I gave her a few treats and some petting just before getting into bed each night. I would stroke her ears as I looked into her eyes and told her that I loved her. Her eyes seemed to convey that she wanted to tell me that she loved me, too.

We got home from Florida Saturday afternoon. I cried as I watched videos alone yesterday morning; longing for the chance to stroke her soft ears and scratch her belly just one more time. 

We had Sadie Mae cremated. Her ashes are supposed to come back today. I am going to make a  dovetailed box from some beautifully figured cherry to hold her cremains. 

She was not just a dog and I will miss her always and forever.

It's Going To Be A While

Everyone is talking about when things will "get back to normal." Based on their context, they seem to be talking about social distancing being eliminated or "non-essential" businesses reopening. Unfortunately, those aren't even close to what's required for us to get back to normal. In fact, we may never return to the normal we used to know.

People are anxious to return to their life the way it was before this crisis. Unfortunately, merely ending the restrictions isn't going to make that happen. Many people are out of work. The government's stimulus plan isn't going to replace the income they are losing - not even close if this continues for another month or more. The damage done to some companies is going to be too much for them to overcome and they will either never reopen or won't return to their pre-COVID-19 status. Many of their employees won't have jobs to go back to.

Also, just because restaurants and movie theaters and stores reopen doesn't mean their customer base can afford to jump back to the level of discretionary spending they enjoyed before the crisis hit. Those businesses won't be able to afford to keep the same staffing levels they had before if their customers can't afford what they are offering. Unemployment numbers are likely to be affected for a long time.

We can't forget that the $2,000,000,000,000 (let all those zeros sink in for a moment) government stimulus plan isn't free. We're going to be paying for that for a very long time, even without the pork that our elected leaders allowed to bloat the bill. Ultimately, the only way the government generates revenue is to tax its people. That "free money" is going to cost a whole lot for a very long time. The interest alone on that money could cripple an economy already reeling from the effects of the pandemic. We are all going to pay for it eventually.

I'm one of the "lucky" ones. My company is considered essential so I still go to work each day and collect a paycheck every two weeks. That could change in a heartbeat, though, if I or one of my co-workers get sick. Having one or two people quarantined out of a company of eight people could quickly bring us to our knees.

Until then, I just keep praying for those people searching for effective treatments and vaccines. I will keep praying for the healthy to stay healthy and the sick to recover.

Like the ripples emanating from a stone hitting the water, the ripples from the Corona Virus are going to continue spreading over a great area until they eventually weaken and largely disappear. There are going to be a lot of businesses; small, medium and large, that are impacted for a very, very long time.

Maybe forever.

Whatever happened to civil discourse???

The political division in our country is quite possibly as bad as it has ever been. It seems impossible to disagree with someone without being accused of hate. Where did we lose touch???

A prime example of this problem was glaringly obvious in a recent social media post featuring a photograph of four of our surviving past presidents with their surviving spouses. It was a very nice photo of a nicely posed group of smiling people. Now I don't really agree with any of the four men on everything, and I strongly disagree with the policies of two of them. Those who know me know which I would tend to support and which I wouldn't, but that's irrelevant to this discussion. My problem is with the vitriolic and hateful comments people on both sides of the political spectrum posted.

Really, people????

There were hateful posts directed at one party's presidents or the other. There were hateful posts directed at the people who support one party's presidents or the other. There were posts spewing disgust and hate that their guys would be photographed with the other guys - and that they'd all be smiling.

Where did we go off the rails? Since when is it somehow implied or worse, required, that we hate our opponents? All four of the men in the photograph had been duly elected President of The United States and, as such, deserve the respect due the office - whether you agree with their policies or not. Personally, I would consider it a privilege to meet and shake hands with a former U.S. President even if I strongly disagree with his policies. I'm guessing that we could even have a very polite conversation about our disagreements without any hateful speech, raised voices or vile language.

How could that possibly be? It's possible because I still believe in civil discourse with those with whom I disagree. Sure, the debate can be spirited at times, but we can have spirited debate without being hateful or mean. Having my picture taken shaking hands and chatting with a former President I may not support does not imply my endorsement any more than shaking hands and chatting with one of my competitors at a trade show or meeting implies that I back them and their products. It's just how we are supposed to interact with other people.

Disagreeing doesn't mean hating; despite what our current climate tries to portray.

Let's face it; you are not likely to change my mind and I'm not likely to change yours, but why don't we get back to an era of civil discourse, where we can disagree and still be friends.