September 14, 2008
An Egyptian Shawl
While on a very special trip to Egypt several years ago we took the Nile cruise from Aswan to Luxor. One would settle in on the “ship” and then it would stop at all of the important temples along the Nile river. The Nile is one of only a few rivers in the world that actually flows north. Egypt had been a third world country for many years and is mostly very rural farmlands with poor inhabitants. One day, midway in the 10 day cruise, as we were disembarking in a particularly poor area for our land tour to a remote temple, something unusual happened. The Captain of our ship was waiting on shore as we disembarked, and I had never seen him do this before. As I started to walk by him, he stopped me and covered me with a beautiful native sheer white shawl. I looked at him quizically wondering why, but I thanked him immediately. Before I could say more, and seeing the questioning look on my face, he told me that this shawl was “to protect you”. When I offered to reimburse him for it , he refused, saying it was his gift to me to “protect you from evil” and that I should wear it all day. I did. He covered me with a mantel of protection and I still have the shawl.
It is precisely moments like this that create the times of our lives and they create the memories of our lives.
Aggie – in memorium – 9/7/08
Aggie & Baby
Our extended family lost one of it’s most beloved members last Sunday. Agatha, commonly know as The Mole, but only called Aggie by me, passed away. She was the pet dog of my Son and his Wife.
She was THE Ring Bearer at their wedding, wearing a sage green poncho sweater (co-ordinating with the sage green wedding theme) lovingly made by one of the bride’s dearest friends. The rings carefully were tied to the neck of it. Aggie quietly stood on the sidelines waiting the time when she was to present the rings; which she did at the correct place in the ceremony. What a delight to everyone there! She was good for as long as she could be and then, getting bored with the solemnity, she wandered over to my chair. I grabbed her collar and attempted to keep her from wandering more which worked for a short time. She tugged and pulled and so I released her since she was heading back to her “waiting” place. She certainly made that wedding memorable!
Then came the Baby. Since Aggie and her “partner in crime,” Beef (what a name for a dog!), are both very large dogs, there was some concern as to how they would be around the newborn. Not to worry! They were wonderful. During the pregnancy, Aggie became very protective of my Daughter-in-law, but that was nothing once the baby was born! No one could even come on their property without her letting everyone know that an intruder -expected or not- was afoot. Aggie was always near the baby, loving him and protecting him. As a Grandmother, I had no worries because I knew that no one would ever be allowed to harm our precious baby with Aggie around.
She became unexpectedly ill three weeks ago. They made many trips to the vet, sparing no expense to help their beloved pet, even giving her blood transfusions. They knew that she was really sick, but they didn’t really think that she wasn’t going to get better…they just thought that they had to get her through this difficult period of illness. Aggie let them know that she wanted to be home and not in the vet hospital so they lovingly nursed her at home. Then, on Sunday morning, she asked to go outside. While in her favorite place she let her last breath leave her strong protective body. Her passing was so unexpected that one hardly knows what to do without her.
We can only be thankful that we had the opportunity to have her grace our lives for a while. Like most of our pets, she brought so much joy to our lives, that somehow we end up being better for having had the opportunity to have them enrich our life.
