20 December 2010

Good Thoughts for My Bestest Hiking Buddy

Lucy hiking with me in the Magdalena Mountains, NM, July 2010
Tomorrow I take Lucy to the vet to see if we can do anything for her leg, which was injured when she was hit by a car in 2008 and is deteriorating fast. She's only 7, and she has so much happy spirit in her that it breaks my heart (literally, my chest hurts; sounds corny but there it is) to see her hobble and falter when she so very much wants to run. I hiked without her yesterday and felt terrible leaving her behind, and although I'll always love hiking it feels too solitary without her running along with me, chasing rabbits and deer, patrolling for bear and big cats, and just being my buddy. She goes on walks with my dad out on the property, runs along with the kids when they're out and about, and has helped me get more active again by being both a fun and a safe, protective companion. Not to be too maudlin about it but we can only take so much loss in a year, so please send Lucy good healing thoughts so she can have another 7 or more years with us. I want to hike up to and along the crest of the Magdalena Mountains next summer, and I don't want to do it alone....

Lucy hiking through a creek in Patterson Canyon, Magdalena, NM, June 2010

2 comments:

turn me loose, set me free said...

Best of luck to her, Better partners have not been invented yet.

Anna Lear said...

Thank you! Things look good for her to get surgery, and she should be healed up by springtime.