Sad goodbyes, indeed

At the beginning of her cooking show on the Food Network, Ree Drummond introduces herself as “a writer, blogger, photographer, mother, and accidental country girl.” She lives on a ranch in Oklahoma with a husband, four children, and a bunch of dogs.

Last week, she published a blog posting entitled "A Sad Goodbye" that began, “I don’t want to write this post, but I have to write this post.” She goes on to describe the passing of her most famous and beloved Basset Hound, Charlie. It is a moving piece, dwelling not on his illness and death but celebrating his life and his place in hers.

I know how Ree felt, not wanting to write that post. My beloved Chihuahua, Soji, died in the fall of 2015, and I did not want to write that post either. Unlike Ree, however, I did not make myself do it.

I’m sure Ree felt obligated to share the news with her legions of fans, whereas Soji’s importance was limited to relatively few of us.  Nevertheless, even fifteen months later, I still don’t feel like I am capable of writing about my remembrances of Soji and the joy she brought into my life.

I have mentioned Soji in any number of postings over the years, and those glimpses into our life together and our love for each other are probably more telling than any tribute I could write about her now.

My condolences to Ree and her family, and my thanks for inspiring me to write even this much in memory of my tiny dog.