SAAAAGE! ♡
In a few days, it’s going to be September. Say wha? This is both NOT OKAY and also the best thing ever because fall is amazing and I love it. But we’ve still got time before September hits and I’m taking full advantage of it by sneaking in an update on what Sage has been doing in August slash summer. Woot!
August was a big month for Sage.
And by big, I mean Extra Regular.
Sage is the queen of all things mild. In some corner of my mind, I think I held out hope that we would have lots of adventures swimming, hiking, rollerblading, playing frisbee, and other wild summer shenanigans to share with you at this point in the summer. I imagined pictures of Sage jumping off a dock with reckless abandon, or racing like a maniac through the woods, or splashing through a little kiddie-dog pool in the backyard with a big dog-smile on her face.
But you guys, this is my dog. ↓
Sage’s August highlights were those of the Extra Regular variety.
For example: Visiting the vet. Learning how to play with toys (yes – this is a learned skill for our girl). Getting her nails trimmed. Destroying a few items in our home (which, being the extra regular dog she is, involved ripping the petals off of a few flowers and chewing on a pen – I know, BIG NEWS). Napping in the sun all day every day. Getting a new little gold nameplate for her Extra Regular collar. Trying and loving a new brand of treats.
Woweeee! Live it up, Sage. Live. It. Up.
*cue transition into serious*
With all the Extra Regular stuff, there was one truly big thing that happened in Sage’s world in August, and our world, too.
Earlier this week, we said goodbye to an old friend.
Sage and Bernie only knew each other for these last few months, but like all good dog siblings, they did some important things in their time together – napping, competing for food, and assisting their humans on pizza runs. Bonding at its deepest.
Bernie was with my family for 15 years, and he gave us so much love.
In the most bittersweetly perfect turn of events, we were all able to be there for his last day. And it was filled with only the best Bernie things: hearty hamburger meals, sweet hugs and kisses from way too many people (gah, big family problems), serenades on the kitchen floor, and sweet, happy, carefree moments in the sun.
When the time came, all nine of us packed into the tiniest room at the vet and wrapped him in his favorite blanket and cried together as we stroked his frail body and straightened up his little red bandana and told him how much we loved him.
It was raw and heart-breaking and intimate – the hardest kind of perfect that makes you cry all over again when you try to write about.
Our family won’t be the same with you, Bernie Boy. Thank you for 15 sweet years, baby.
The night we said goodbye to Bernie, I held Sage a little tighter and gave her a few extra treats when I put her to bed and tried not to think about the fact that someday, hopefully a wayyy long time from now, these golden days we are having together will have to come to an end with a goodbye of our own. My heart gets a sharp little pang just to… I can’t even. How do people do this? I honestly can’t even.
So I won’t.
I will just show you the happy, non-athletic, mild, golden days that we had together in August. Because there were many. ☀️
Oh, hey, remember the sketchy mail-in doggie DNA test that we did on Sage way back in April?
As luck would have it, our Beagle-looking dog has the genetic makeup of a Labrador Retriever and (wait for it) Bulldog. Don’t tell the DNA people, but I think there’s some Beagle and a little German Shepherd in there, too. And maybe a little bit of Cat.
Whatever she is, I love it.
If you’re into the whole fur bb thing, check out the story of how we got Sage and the Sage update from May.
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