Autumn Leaves

 Our beloved Jack joined Alex and Cleo in the arms of the angels yesterday, Tuesday 11/29/22 about 9:45am.  Lap of Love sent a very nice Veterinarian to administer the euthanasia.  It was quiet and serene (punctuated by fits of our sobbing, of course).  Sue Ann reported a change in the light, a 'brightening and goldness' that accompanied his passing.

This morning, I stepped over him in the dark, as he often slept on a blanket by my side of the bed.  I reached down to touch his wooly noggin, only to find the fresh hole in my heart.  It was like a phantom touch on a newly amputated limb.

I went up on the ridge, where he and I used to ascend every other morning or so.  Looking back on San Leandro, the last of the red and gold trees below were going brown.  We saw our hermit friend Martin, and he said: "I'm glad you're alright!", as I hadn't been up there in a while.  "Mostly" I said.  He didn't ask about Jack, so I didn't offer.  I'm going to try to get up that ridge every day, or almost every day during the week to get back in shape, and hopefully clear the gunk out of my head and heart.

Like the old standard Autumn Leaves, I'll always think of Jack when the leaves and the light turns gold.