Dear Fergie. One of your favorite things in life was when your family and friends came to visit us. In May 2017 auntie Michelle came to visit and the three of us drove up to San Clemente, to one of our favorite places- Linda Lane Park. Michelle and I brought a picnic, and I packed a bunch of treats, toys and water for you. We sat on our picnic blanket for what felt like hours, eating, drinking, soaking in the…
Dear Fergie. In October 2016 you and I made our annual fall road trip from San Diego up to Seattle. During the trip we visited one of our old stomping grounds: Gasworks Park. It felt so weird to be back after several years of not living there, having gone on our 8 month road trip, then moving to San Francisco, then on to San Diego. Everything had changed in our lives. Literally everything. I felt a mix of nostalgia, longing…
Dear Fergie. I know I don’t have to ask you if you remember going to the vet’s offices so many times in your last 18 months, because I’m sure you do. Do you also remember that all of the years leading up to that point you were almost never sick? Aside from the occasional UTI, I would take you in once a year, and you’d check out as being totally healthy. In fact, the first vet I ever saw with…
Dear Fergie. Often when I think back to the time we lived in Seattle (for over nine years), I miss that time and think that maybe it was a mistake for us to leave. We had such a good life in most of the places we lived, and life in California was much harder for both of us on many levels. But I notice something while looking through all of my Seattle photos of you, and that’s the fact that,…
Dear Fergie. One of the things I loved so much about you was the fact that you were so gentle with other animals. I could always trust you with cats, bunnies, goats, horses, etc. But especially cats. According to the shelter intake paperwork I was given when I adopted you, you spent the first six months of your life living with a kitty, which explained to me why you loved them so much. Do you remember cuddling with Charlie at…
Dear Fergie. Do you remember how you used to sleep in the most awkward positions? What in the world was that all about? You used to lay with your head on the crossbar of a wood dining room chair, on the base of my hard metal office chair, on the edge of bookshelves, and whatever other hard, unyielding thing was near you. You’d lay halfway on your bed, with your face smushed into the floor, or you’d lay mostly on…
Dear Fergie. Some nights when my notification goes off at 10:45pm to ‘think of one happy Fergie memory’, I quiet myself, open my mind, and nothing comes to me. So I ask you to show me one of your favorite memories. ‘Find the fishies’ was one of them, as was another memory of us riding in a car with a sunroof (that I still can’t figure out because I don’t recall ever being in a car with a sunroof with…
Dear Fergie. We lived in San Francisco for just a brief moment- just a little over seven months. But one thing we did almost every day when we were there was walk in Golden Gate Park. I had dreamed of living in San Francisco since I was young, and I always had a vision of living across the street from the park, so it’s kind of amazing that that’s how it worked out. There was no dog in my vision,…
Dear Fergie. This memory comes in multiples, because it was one thing you did many many times throughout your life. It was your undying love of licking feet. Ha!! I wished we could have talked in the same language, because I wanted to ask you so many times what the appeal was. You loved it so much it bordered on obsession. I remember one time I had a wealthy client come to our tiny apartment to look at art proofs…
Dear Fergie. When we first visited San Diego, our favorite place was in the western side of Balboa Park, but after we moved there, it shifted to the east side of the park. Do you remember all of the walks we took at Morley Field? I vividly remember every part of that walk, and even people and dogs we passed while making big circles around the ball fields. I used to look out over the bay to Coronado Bridge, and…