The river

It's been a month since Jersey left us and I've still got an ache in my heart and I expect I will for a long time. Not a day goes by that I don't think of her.  Just during the course my routine life there are so many occasions when I'll think "Jersey would love this" or "Jersey would be trying to run after those critters" or "Jersey would have loved a bite of this."

Last weekend Alexa, Tellie and I drove to Ellicott City.  The back way I took led us up and down twisty, turny hills through some areas that were heavily forested.  Eventually, we came to the Patapsco River which began to run parallel with the road.  The only thing I could think and what I said to Alexa was "Jersey would have loved to run through the river." The water was low and she would have pranced right down the middle of it. She would have spent time exploring the sand bar which had formed along it's edge.  She would have jumped onto the bank and begun looking for varmint holes to shove her big head into.

It's times like those when I miss her most; when we explored areas like that, we bonded.

One hot and muggy July day last summer, we drove to nearby Owen's Mills to take a hike on the shady path which coincidently ran along the Patapsco River.  It was so hot and the water looked so inviting that we climbed down the embankment to the water's edge.  Here was the waterfall partially formed where the water roiled around and over some boulders which had come to rest in the shallows.  Natural pools about three foot deep had formed in the spaces between them, making for a nice, pool place to sit and soak, providing relief from the heat.  I took of my shoes and socks and removed my shirt and eased my way into the water.  I dunked myself into the middle of a pool, sitting in water up to my chest.

Jersey being Jersey, had followed me along the boulders to the edge of the pool.  Of course, when she saw me sit in the water, she had to sit as well. Unfortunately, she didn't understand that the water was deeper where I was. She stepped off the boulder into the pool and sank like a stone. She had never been in water deeper than her belly and all of a sudden was in over her head.

She frantically tried to climb up back on the boulder but couldn't do it without a lift from me.  She vigorously shook her self off, soaking Alexa and Tellie who had sat on the rocks while enjoying the sun.  The look on her face though was one of "I don't know what happened but I don't think I want it to happen again."  She wasn't discouraged enough though to abandon the river.  She found a more manageble pool to wade in.

That's what I was remembering when we drove past the river last Saturday, Jersey in the pool.

It's during the unremarkable times like driving past a river on a Saturday when I find I miss her most.  She made forgetable things like that, memorable. During the course of each day, I remember.