Missing Daisy

In my stairwell hang paintings of all my dogs by artist Kelly Jo Shows of Maine. Each morning I stumble down those stairs on my way out to run. And each morning I say good morning to my German Shepherd Daisy who died on this day.

I don't know why but I can't remember what year Daisy died. It was between 2008 and 2010. I could look up Gidget's vet records and I would know, notably because my then-husband and I got Gidget three weeks after Daisy died.

So much happened in those years and it all blends together in many ways. Daisy died of hemangiosarcoma, an evil cancer of the blood. One day in August a large mass popped out on her hip. We thought she had bumped herself against the patio furniture while playing with Hattie and we refused to believe the oncologist's report that she had terminal cancer.