We had to put Monte to sleep today.

The Vet came out on Monday and said, “It’s a hard decision but it’s what’s best for him”.

It wasn’t a hard decision at all.
Monte led a long and wonderful life.
He was 17. It was time.

His love helped bring two families together when we got him from the pound 16 years ago this week. He brought a level of love and connectedness that I’m not sure we would have had without him. He helped me find my way to Crow’s Woods, where I found a community of fellow dog lovers and friends, and connected me to the daily ebb and flow of nature in a way I never experienced before. All because of Monte.

My walks will no longer be the same.

I’m having a hard time writing this right now.  Instead of focusing on all the wonderful memories, I’m typing through tears.

Maybe because I just wrote one of these 2 weeks ago for my buddy Coop.

I’m feeling a lot of loss and don’t want to invite any more in right now.

“What am I to learn from this”, is what my dog walking buddy, and mentor, Dr. Bernie Siegel would tell me to ask myself.

What am I to learn from this?

Hmmm… Maybe that it’s time for my “second” life to begin and this cloud of death that surrounds me is more like a snake shedding his skin.
I like that. I always like a positive spin.

“The old skin has to be shed before the new one can come,” says Joseph Campbell, the famous teacher of mythology, referring to the ancient symbol of snakes shedding their skin as a metaphor for inner growth. We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”

Maybe that’s it. Maybe Monte is just freeing Jan and I up to embark on the life that’s waiting for us, with no worries or feelings of guilt.

Doesn’t surprise me.
His love, and ours, was unconditional.

Thank you, Monte, dearest companion.
Thank you for showing me how to be a true wingman.

With Love,
Michael