Dog Tales: William Observes Memorial Day

Regular Gossips readers know that my beloved William is getting on in years. When I adopted him in August 1999, the shelter where I found him (he was a stray) set his age at two years. My own vet put his age at a year and a few months, and I went with her estimate. If she was right, William is fifteen now. If the shelter was right, he's closer to sixteen. Either way, he is pretty old for a dog his size, and every day with him now is a gift.

This morning, when I was heading out to watch the Memorial Day parade and attend the ceremonies at the courthouse, I wasn't planning to take William with me. We had already had a substantial walk at around 6 a.m., and I didn't think he was ready for another, but he disagreed. When I was about to walk out the door, he gave me that "Don't go without me" look, so I grabbed the leash, and off we went.

Before and during the parade, William reveled in the attention he was getting. People wanted to pet him, and he loved it. He met new people and made new friends.

William with Eddie LeSawyer

We watched the parade from the corner of Warren and Fourth, and by the time we'd followed the parade the one block to the courthouse, William was exhausted. He collapsed in the shade on the courthouse lawn and lay there through the speeches, the recitations, the music, and the gunfire. 

That was fine, but when it was time to go home, I couldn't coax him to stand up and walk the two blocks back to our house. As a few minutes grew into half an hour, I started to worry. Had accompanying me to the Memorial Day parade exacted from my beautiful William the last full measure of devotion? 

Finally I decided that, instead of standing over him feeling a mix of panic and impatience, I would sit down on the grass beside him, and we would just stay there and enjoy the spectacular day together. Of course, once I did that, William stood up and seemed ready to go, so I scrambled to my feet, and we made our way home.

Once there, William had a big drink of fresh water and lay down for a short nap before feasting on a lunch of all beef cocktail franks. Then he went back to sleep for the rest of the afternoon and woke up in the evening to have London broil for dinner.