Maxine's sister Linda was here Friday PM/Sat AM with her 7 year old daughter Lauren. Cassie and Lauren have been 'friends' since... well, since forever. At one point, when Lauren was around 3, they seemed to have the same mentality. But of course, Lauren has moved beyond that. Cassie, on the other hand, has maintained the perpetual mentality of a little kid. But, it's always been cute to see the 2 of them together.
When Lauren was young and at the slow crawl stage, Cassie would energetically come up to her and try to get her to frolic, to run with her. Lauren would in turn try to engage with Cassie, offering her Binky (pacifier). It was unbelievably cute to see the two of them try to relate to each other in a giving way. One that made sense in each of their contexts, but not to the other.
As Lauren started to be able to prop herself up, and to stand up, Cassie would come up to her and lick her face. Lauren would tumble down laughing at it. And Cassie would do a little run around her, then come back for more. I'm smiling as I type this, as much as I'm sad to know that it's ended.
One year we met Linda and Lauren at a hotel with a doorway between our rooms. Ours had 2 queen beds. Lauren, an early walker at this point, would come into our room and climb (with effort!) up onto the bed that Cassie was laying on. Cassie, seeing the encroachment, would easily hop down off the first bed and back up onto the second bed. Laure would laborously climb down off the first bed and follow Cassie over to the second. She'd struggle up onto the bed, then Cassie would hop down and go back to the first. It was amusing for both of them, as well as us, to watch the play between Cassie and Lauren.
Well, with Linda and Lauren here this weekend, Saturday morning was very poignant to me. They said long, slow goodbyes to Cassie. I held back the tears, thinking to myself that this is the last time that they'll see Cassie. And particularly for Lauren, that it was the last time she'd see her original childhood companion.
I struggled with this post, to avoid the maudlin. People always outlive their childhood dogs. But, it was just one more bit of sadness.
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