By Georgia Osten
With heavy heart, I write this sand bucket, a very sad beach bum’s journal. My sweet golden retriever Ruby was 11 years old. What a super companion she was from the moment the kids gave her to me the Christmas of 2001, the same year Grant was born (Grant’s Birthday Buddy). I’ll never forget little Emma shaking her finger at the rambunctious puppy, “Bad beeby tuppy dog, no bite!” The other grandkids will miss seeing her on Face Time when we talk long distance, Ruby was their friend.
She loved the beach, loved merely laying in the shallow water or rolling in the sea weed or just lying at your feet in the sand. What a good girl Miss Ruby, Ruby Begonia, Ruby in the Sky With Diamonds.
Last Wednesday, I had to say goodbye to my sweet Ruby, known and loved by so many. Over 3 years ago, she was diagnosed with cancer and had to have her left rear leg amputated, but she rallied back. She still loved to walk on the beach and run after her tennis ball and swim out to where we were surf fishing. The last year has been harder on her. We had to help her up and down the stairs, but she still smiled and wagged her tail, loved her breakfast and her treats after dinner, deck sitting and just being with us.
The other day, I was away from home and it began to thunder and rain, I worried about her being afraid, only to remind myself that she was not with us anymore. And now, when I come home or simply come back upstairs, she’s not there to greet me anymore. Sometimes, Ruby and my husband would be downstairs waiting for me to get home; they weren’t there today when I got home. At night before we go to bed, she’s not there to take outside anymore. Her food dish is still in the same spot and her bed is still in the middle of the living room floor. Emptiness.
“You were such a great companion, Constant, Loyal and True. My heart will always wear the pawprints left by you.” I love and miss you My Sweet Girl …
GO’s Sand Bucket is only one beach bum’s journal of life at the beach, probably something each of you can relate to. Please feel free to email me with your thoughts, visions and/or feelings of just exactly what the beach means to you.
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