D is for Dog

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Photography by Mary Allison Tierney

Dogs Have Bucket Lists Too

I haven’t taken a nice vacation without a diaper bag, sippy cups or portable crib for seven years! So it was with great excitement that my family began to plan a beachfront vacation in Hawaii during spring break. I could already taste the sweet, pulpy coconut in a piña colada and feel the gritty, warm sand between my toes as I dug my feet in deeply with a sigh.

But, as often happens, good times get derailed. While planning our vacation during the gray gloom of winter, we discovered dismal news. Our beloved dog, the center of our family for 11 years, had cancer. Of course this took the wind out of everyone’s sails. Our hard saved vacation funds now poured quickly into our “Save Our Sweet Dog” campaign. It was the right choice (for us.) We would not let our canine pal down without a fight.

After months of treatment, and when the lush island landscape and hip swaying sounds of Hawaiian music were a distant daydream; a bit of blue sky shown down on our family. Our dog felt a little better. If you’ve had the unfortunate experience of facing a terminal illness of a loved one, you know that life shrinks down into those moments that lie just in front of you. There is no “next Christmas” or “when you are back in town” or maybe even tomorrow. There is just now. And so, we decided that our dog deserved a bucket list, a few things for him to tick off before he went gently into the night.

How does one create a bucket list for dogs? It’s not that hard because dogs generally do everything they want to, when they want to, like running really fast, or sleeping for 16 hours straight, or rolling on top of that smelly dead skunk because it just felt right.
We looked at his bucket list as more of a “What Would the Dog Do?” or WWTDD, and applied it to all of us. We’ve been taking lots of walks, enjoying naps and sitting down with each other and our dog, and just “being” together. What has this done for us? Well, it’s made us appreciate each other and be grateful for the love and companionship of our dog for over a decade. We’re less tired, much happier and maybe even a little more fit.

And for those spring break plans, we put that on the bucket list too. We’re headed to a lakefront family resort 20 miles from the beautiful Yosemite National Forest. It’s dog friendly, of course. Our pup will get plenty of splashing, hiking, and relaxing with his family who love him more than anything.

We just asked, WWTDD? And so, we did.

Laurel Hilton’s essay Of Rats and Deadlines will appear in Mamas Write.