Instructions on Life from a rescue named Maisie
I wander into the bedroom and find Maisie, as per usual, curled up in a small, compact ball, her chin on the heap that is my standard t-shirt and cargo shorts, carelessly thrown there after our morning walk. Her sumptuous tail is wrapped around her, its tip grazing her nose. When she sees me, her …
A few weeks ago, when I was having a particularly rough morning all on my own (without any help from Maisie) we encountered another dog on our morning walk. We were on a section of the trail that stretches long and straight, with a decent site line, and I could see the dog from pretty …
It was her eyes that first pulled me in, Maisie’s big, searching, liquid gold, Egyptian princess, smoky, kohl-lined eyes. She looked up at me, looked straight into my broken heart and held on tight, didn’t let go. She still hasn’t. She has a fantastic, cascading tail; she has disheveled, raggedy ears that look like an …
Maisie and I are at the intersection of Champa and 17th Avenue in downtown Denver and we are both a little shell-shocked by the traffic and the noise and the people and the commotion. Maisie is a well-traveled dog — Colorado is the 19th state she has visited — and I am no rube, having …
The timer on the kitchen stove has just gone off, with its loud, repetitive beep, and in perfect Pavlovian fashion Maisie begins her dance. She is barking and jumping in circles, and I swear, sometimes all four paws are off the ground at once. Her whole being is spilling over with excitement and it is …
The date came and went, with barely a blip on the radar. My husband took her around the park and I managed to get myself out for a two block walk, but other than that, Maisie’s year anniversary with us was dramatically uneventful. That was not how I had planned things to be. At the …
Continue reading "Here’s to a Year With Little Miss Sunshine"
Maisie is spinning around in circles, making guttural grunting noises and attacking her tail, hopping as she bites it. It really is a sight to behold, a tiny feat of coordination and insanity-inspired athleticism. I am watching her while I am warming my hands on a mug of freshly brewed Masala Chai tea, holding the …
Maisie and I are out on the trail on a blindingly bright and bitterly cold Saturday afternoon. There is fresh snow on the ground and the sky is a perfect, pale Iowa blue, with not even a hint of a cloud. We wander off the trail and walk through our community orchard to a snow-blanketed …
I am cozied up to my husband on our sofa in front of the wood stove and we are both attached to our respective iPads. (Mine has a pink cover, his has a black and white skull-themed cover. There you go.) I’ve grown weary of the state of the world I’m encountering in the New …
Maisie and I are going back to school. We’ve been slacking off a bit these past few months, what with my rekindled love of running and her learning that yes, she can have fun with other dogs at the dog park. All of that running around and playing and we got a little lazy practicing …
Barks at Strangers 