The weather has not improved much. In fact it has gotten worse.

The country has not improved much either and I am not holding out much hope there. It is so very sad to me that I will likely be able to say, on the day of my demise, that I was here long enough to pay witness to the deconstruction and final destruction of what had been conceived in liberty and dedicated to a single proposition, not so very long ago. To what end I will never be able to say I fear.

My boys made honor roll again and I just returned from the awards breakfast. I am, have always been, and will always be so very proud of them. They are good kids and they have good friends. I just want to see that they have all the best in terms of opportunities now and in the future. But with each passing day and each concluding school year and baseball season and band concert and calendar month I feel them moving away and onward, on their own, as it should be and as we are trying our best to promote.

Tough to have to gently nudge away those who mean the world to you but it is what should be done. These days I feel that far too many parents never do that and there will always be a price to pay for a dearth of independence in society. It’s there now but few choose to look and see it. Before much longer though they will likely be made to feel it and at that moment it will be too late. Too damn late.

Since I was going inside of the school this morning I did not let Maizey ride along with us.   This dog lives for school mornings. She loves to climb up into the Explorer (she can’t really leap anymore, sadly) and take up her perch and accompany me and the boys on our short ride to school.

She won’t jump out when I drop them off; Misty sure would but not Miss Maizey. The boys pat her and say bye as they leap out (they can but I, like Miss Maizey, cannot) and head off to enjoy their school day. They seem to still like school and that is good and as we, of course, prefer it. Then I take Miss Maizey on a ride around the farmlands for about ten minutes or so before we return home.

Every so often I reach to the back seat and she nuzzles and licks my hand. She’s like that.

She really doesn’t like the window open when we are going fast. Messes up her fur I guess.

No, she just likes to look out the window- maybe her canine version of a “moving picture show”- and be with me or just away from the hubbub for a while. She is such a good and loving girl.

When we return home I have a foam pad I lay out so that she can jump down with less risk of injury to her hips or forepaws. That works for now but soon I may need to build a ramp. Whatever, it will be a small price to pay to reward this beautiful dog who has given us so much fun and so much joy and has been such a key part of our family and our lives since the boys were very young. They grew up together.

Today she could not go with us and I could see in her eyes the sadness at being left behind. She has so very little that she seems to really like to do anymore and this is definitely one of her favorite activities. Sleeping is another. Eating is still another but likely captures the top three spots. I try to indulge as much as possible.

I fear the day when she will no longer be able to go with at all or when we have to take her on her final ride. How does one let go? I tear up now as I think of it but I will always know one thing for certain:

…we have been much more the better off with Miss Maizey in our lives than we would have been without her. Misty cannot replace her; no dog ever could. And even if it could I wouldn’t let it.

Until the time that we will have to let her go she will be given everything possible. We did it when she was a puppy and we will do it as she now ages.

It was the time in between that her independence came. And it is now, sadly going, but her family will be the ones to help her because we love her so.

And that too is as it always should be.