Tuesday, May 5, 2009

"Hawk" my very special companion remembered


April 17, 2007

I had an overwhelming melancholy today. Of times past, joys remembered. I was at Meldrum Bar Park in Gladstone around 5 tonight. I was there to see Shelby and meet her soccer team. She is a coach for the "Kung Fu" girls. (Nine year olds) How fun to see her nurture the young ones in the way she was taught, at the same place even! Meldrum was her home field for years.

I caught a scent in the breeze, felt a sense of something so familiar, then the memories tumbled in... From the time Hawk came into my life, until he was 5, we walked Gladstone everyday. The perimeter, from Oatfield, along the Clackamas, to the Willamette at Meldrum bar. We knew the land there, the paths, the trees, the flow of the river, the community gardens. We knew by the smell of the air what season it was, knew when the hawks and geese would follow their migratory pull. When they and the heron build their nests. We knew the flow of the river, how each season felt. Tonight there was a gentle wind, mild yet starting to notice a cool change in the air. It would of been one of our favorite nights for a walk. Enjoying the longer days, watching the kids play ball, the fishermen on the river, or bank fishing and casting their lines. Young families walking, pushing strollers. Hawk loved people, and they loved him. It was an honor to walk beside him and hold his lead. To see people rush over to him and eagerly ask "can we pet him?? " To which he would almost bow as if to say "of course you can. In fact you must!"

What wonderful times those were. Just me and my dog. Living in a town that was, and still is so special and unique. There really is no point to this post, just sharing a part of my heart. And allowing me a way to acknowledge how grateful I am for the memories. Hawk was one in a million, and he is truly missed but even more he is truly remembered.

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