Wednesday, August 12, 2009

BODIE TROUT-PIELAET-JONES

One of the kindest souls I have ever know. One of the dearest spirits to walk the earth. One of the most giving beings I think I will ever meet. Bodie Trout-Pielaet-Jones. Human soul in the bodie of an akita - shepard mix. Our sweet companion for over 15 years, stopped eating the day our dear friend Rod Mcatee took his last breath.

Bodie hung out for another 2 weeks. Unable to walk. In need of 24 hour assistance from me and amy. Others came on out to hang out with her. Say goodbye. She had a queens bed under the cabana just outside our bedroom doors...which were kept wide open. I mostly sat with her. Cared for her. Tried to give her the kind of love and attention she gave to me her whole life.

Sweet trusting Bodie. I remember when she was just a small pup. She got real sick the day we picked her up in South Lake Tahoe. We ended up at a vets house at 10pm. Bad news. Puppy Strangules. "she will not live" said the vet. "Help me figure out the best way to keep her alive" I said. "Well...you have to keep her alive for a couple of months. She has no immune system. She will get big fluid filled cysts all over her bodie. You need to drain them and bath her and give her all these meds everyday...she should be in a hospital...Her glands and throat will swell...that's why they call it strangules" "How much will that cost?" I aksed. "1000 to 2000 a day." not an option. We adopted bodie. But we did not have that kind of money. "Give me instructions...I will be her hospital".

So we took her home, and it was like she had "elephantitis". Hard to explain. But she was kind and patient. Never a grumpy note uttered. Only kind sweet love. She would put her little head between my kness and she would let me drain her awful cysts and bath her and medicate her and wrap her...sometimes 3 times a day. Everyone told me "she will never make it". Even my dad. "Yes she will...she wants to...she loves us..."I answered. Amy and I tended to her day and night. day and night.

3 months later we had a very healthy, very happy pup. She went to school with amy ever day. Artists all over cal arts, even professors, loved her. They all wanted to paint Bodie Trout. She slept in our bed until she got bigger than us...Then she had her own bed next to us. This made her very sad. We wok each morning to find her curled in as small as a ball she could muster at the foot of our bed.

We would take her everywhere. We love to camp. Bodie has never missed a trip. When she was still quite young, we took her on her first camp trip. I remember one time, we put her on a harness on a great doggy walk I bought. We made a bed under a tree and set up her food and water, and walked to the stream right below our site at "rock Creek Lake" in the high sierras. Amy and I caught trout, and after a short period of time, went back to check on our little, happy bodie dog. As we walked up we noticed a strange site...

A dog with tail and ears up, prancing to and fro, from campsite to campsite along the small road.
Harness on. Head perched high...with the yellow bucket we left her water in, in her mouth. The bucket was almost as tall as she was, so she had to hold her head really high. She was so proud. She had done a houdini and gotten off the doggy run. She was "trick-or treating" around the campsite. And she was so very charming and proud. I laughed my ass off. We took her on down to the stream with us and I held her like a babe while I fished. She got her treat after all.

We got her a playmate 11 years ago. That would be her lab-chow mix sister, fanny Stienway. Left abandoned with the entire litter and mom after their owners lost their home. Rescued by my sister and other neighbors. Fanny showed up on my doorstep one valentine's day, looking like a tiny seal. She loved bodie and with time bodie loved her. When fanny was small she would sit in between bodies front legs. Then fanny got big too. So she would just sit on bodies head. Literally. And bodie would sigh and look at me with patient eyes from under fanny's butt.

The clan was later joined by our wee kingcock, pippin-finley. A miniature pomeranian that decided bodie was his girlfriend and he was the king of the roost. Throw in 3 cats and you pretty much have the picture.

Amy and I and our 3 dogs with their oh-so-human souls traveled everywhere together. We planned every trip around our dogs. We even bought a camper, and upsized our truck, so that even when we would plan a trip to visit family, we would stay in the camper so our dogs could go too.

Well...I think you have the picture. Amy and I do not have kids. But we have our "clan".

Bodie died 2 weeks after my friend Rod. And she went out like a queen. She had a queens wake. And she is laid to rest in an amazing place...a place she loved.

We miss our bodie girl. She had such a magnificent energy. She was always happy. She was the sweetest dog I ever met. And I know that when my time comes, I will see her again. Although, when she was ill...she would not 'go'. She waited and stayed. It was as if she was waiting for a being to be conceived. She was almost human. Maybe she is human now. Maybe she earned a place amongst those she served her whole life. She waited and stayed. Held on. And held on. Then...it was time and she went. Maybe her new body was ready for her amazing soul...

I miss my sweet bodie girl. Amy and I have had her practically as long as we have been a couple. The house seems empty without her. I know that her soul lives on. I can feel it still here in our realm. Either in a small human being now...or just as free as my father. Just as free as my buddy, Rod.

I just cannot help but think that when it is my time...that when I lay in that state of the seventh sense...As I transition from this reality to the next...I will see many people who are very special to me. Waiting to help lead me on. But amongst them...whether on 2 legs or 4...I will see my sweet bodie there too. Big smile on her face. I will know her energy. She will be the one with the big yellow bucket filled with sweet spring water from the high sierras...patiently waiting to lead me on.

Bodie Trout Pielaet Jones...until we meet again.