I meant to write this in January, but I’ve had acid reflux, not from eating too much spicy food or cat poo…as you know, I’ve been kicking butt the past year and half since i had cancer. but a few months ago, the anti cancer natural supplements were intolerable to my system. Chemo was ruff on my tummy so that didn’t help but it never took away my love for food! So my mom has been trying to focus on my health and then my parents had covid symptoms around the New Year so you know i kinda had to lay around with them. My mom has been tired and she types for me since my paws weren’t made for this keyboard so here we are at the end of April! I think I need to find a new human to type this stuff out for me :)!

I keep turning my head when i hear some humans say that 2020 was completely a ‘bad’ year …I don’t even know what that means, like 2020 was a bad dog? i know some of those who walk on the trail and growl at me! I’ve got to say, three dog bakery was deemed essential and stayed open and seals still found warm rocks to lay on that made hunting them as great as ever! I’m grateful for those things!  I’ve heard people say goodbye to 2020 as if 2021 is completely a different experience to start out. As my mom says” We take ourselves …who we are and what we are into each new year.”…..all our pain, intentions, hopes, and disappointments. i know there was lots of bad days we got no treats  in 2020 and this is not to diminish that 2020 was a hard year for our world…and for many of you and my family. i started out 2020 ending my chemo on February 3rd and then my mom’s business got shut down for a while because of the pandemic. 

What do i wag my tail about from 2020? I survived an attempted seal drowning incident where my head was pulled out of the mouth of a seal,  surviving cancer, doing a 13 mile backpacking trip with my dad during chemo, summiting mount tallac for my 10th birthday ….a strenuous hike in lake Tahoe consisting of 10.9 miles that i walked and hiked faster than my mom 🙂 . Maybe, before we make our New Years resolutions (i know its march and you’ve had plenty of time to be in full swing of those but maybe you’ve already put them on the shelf)…maybe go back and reflect on what was good in 2020. I know it’s easy to remember a seal almost killing me or cancer trying to kill me….but let’s remember what was good in 2020 and move forward with a tail wag. Maybe we need to sit with what smelled like dog treats to us. 2020 for our family: we started out the new year in telluride Colorado staying the night in our van in the snow and then we drove home stopping in  flagstaff and Sedona where i did a hike while on chemo.  My family continued to live out their desire to spend time in nature and I loved our van trips to the sierras, up the coast, and death valley. The first week of lock down a little guy named Lassen came home to live with us and now he’s ‘a bro from another hoe.’  We hit the road in the van to Santa Barbara and the coast up to Big Sur when we first got him and indoctrinated him into our crazy pack!   My Mom and Dad did a bucket list experience of hiking from Mammoth to Yosemitie National park…55 miles. National parks are so discriminatory towards my kind…its so regressive to not let dogs hike.  My mom also did a big hike with me celebrating my 10 years and that was something she will never forget. Mt tallac was such an accomplishment as it was really really hard …mom kept saying i definitely out hiked her! and she reminded me the other dogs my size were all being carried in purses , i mean back packs up the mountains. Mom says ‘your a 10 year old frenchie kicking butt and most dogs my breed don’t hike let alone at 10!’ My mom is so proud of me. I started out 2020 with getting chemo and then doing a 13 mile backpacking trip in Catalina on the transatlantic trail. As 2020 came closer to an end i did a huge hike where i summited mount tallac. i began and ended 2020 with a challenge and big accomplishment. some days my mom says not checking her instagram, emails and phone in general is just a challenge… honestly not being addicted to the phone and being present is enough of a lesson in one day, let alone to hike a big mountain. She says i have much to teach her. 

My mom talks about living in the  ‘BOTH AND’ ….when there is pain there can also be goodness….its like a kitty litter box its stinky but there’s still treats in there to eat. But 2020 was not all bad, and neither was it all good. So with all  this said, I welcome 2021, like a kitty litter box knowing it will bring three dog bakery and possibly my head in a seal’s mouth…but I’m hoping for the light to overshadow the darkness and i hope for you my dawgs that you experience that you are not alone in 2021…we have each other and as bon Jovi said “thats a lot for love”. God will be there with us as we experience 2021, just as God did in 2020, even if we don’t believe in the Big Dawg, we can hope there is something more. We can walk into this new year with all that we long for, even if we are unsure if what we want will end up in a poop bag.  We are invited into hope.  As we are living into this new year (already a few months in)…my mom reconnects with what is important each day. she struggles to be present and its so much easier to check out by looking on the phone and getting stuck in her head…but i keep reminding her that this what we have…now. 

As each year goes by my mom realizes she does not know how much time she has with me or anyone she loves. We are best friends and she loves me more than any dawg out there.  Sometimes someone comes along and changes everything. i mean everything. that was me for my mom.  My dad reminds her of the truth, that “we ALL are on borrowed time.” As a new year begins i hear my mom say things like, “i cant believe how fast time is going.” i have no idea all that 2021 has for me or for you. I hope its filled with lots of treats. i can promise you one thing, i will continue to live my best life spending time in nature, walking the beach trail each day where i live, traveling around in my van seeing the world and camping…as long as I’m here i will seal watch and eat three dog bakery. I will soak in every ray of sunshine, every cuddle, and i will bark at the mean neighbor sometimes just because i can. Here’s to 2021 my dawgs….

Here’s our 2020…. Enjoy our memories below! .

“Remember, All we have is now…those words that hit my heart so often. Live today my dawgs…soak it all in…every conversation, snuggle, time in nature…what’s right in front of you…who’s right in front of you.”