Our Last Walk

Chew and I just took one last, long walk along our favorite neighborhood path, trudging along the muddy creekside, intermittently bounding up to the asphalt trail that runs alongside it. This evening, the sun set on my chapter with Chew. Tomorrow morning, I will be assigned a new dog for second semester; as Chew's journey takes him to a whole new facility. Chew will no longer be training on the Bergin campus with a student. Rather, he will head to the V.A. Hospital in Menlo Park, where Bonnie's PAWS FOR PURPLE HEARTS program is run. Chew will work with Veterans, helping them overcome the debilitating elements of PTSD. As he has done for me, Chew will give these emotionally, psychologically and spiritually wounded warriors the opportunity to heal, through cultivating a relationship of love and trust with him. I am blessed to have been Chew's student-trainer for the last five months. And tomorrow - I will send him off with all the love and strength in my heart. I will consciously decide not to be sad or downhearted. I also won't shut my emotions down, thereby denying the human experience this work entails, its rightful expression. Instead - as Bonnie has taught me to do...has shown me I CAN do...I will convert the sadness over letting go, into fuel that will ignite Chew and me both. For what Chew and I share is what we as a canine-human team have built, nourished and developed. It is the love that both of us are. And its glow will caste faith over both of our paths, as here they diverge. I love you, Chew. And I will miss your deep, soulful eyes, my sweet friend. Go and do your important work in the world, Chewie. And I will do mine. And you will forever shine through in all the work I do!