This boy. Oberon….Obie. Darling of my heart. Champion of the homeless walk. A teacher. A comrade. A calm gentle force.
Julius died in Boulder on my way to LA…..I stayed to spread his ashes in the Mount Chatauqua meadow and stayed and stayed….as it felt right to stay. Almost a year later I googled ‘Golden Retriever Puppies near Boulder’….there were two litters in El Dorado Springs….I would go look. I did not feel ready, but maybe just a look.
The puppies were tiny and gorgeous and already everyone was spoken for. I felt it was an opening but not quite time yet. As I turned to leave I was thunderstruck. You. Three months old. Sitting and looking at me with your cheeks puffing in and out as you breathed. You were three months old Your father had won best of breed at the Westminster Show and you had been kept by the breeder…but you were lighter than a copper penny and so they chose your brother. You…on that day…became available. We recognized each other with a soul knowing.
Obie, Obie…..Marine Del Rey is not just where I write….where I visit the sea lions and the pelicans…it is where you were sprinkled….and romp and swim forever….twelve years ago on this July 1…I love you my darling boy.