It seemed only awhile ago that Rubin was the size of Lulu's head. Now, he's almost her full length. Not as solid yet, not as hefty and substantial, but lengthening in his legs and body.
Lulu is staying with us while Cecilia heads to California to watch her daughter graduate from college. Rubin loves Lulu. He wants to be whereever she is. When Lulu lays down, Rubin comes close, curling up by her belly or her head and then letting out a big sigh. Lulu is patient. Lulu is more than patient acutally. He'll gnaw on her leg or neck, his still sharp puppy teeth pulling and tugging, and Lulu will just mouth him gently or push him with a tender paw. Eventually, Rubin falls asleep. Lulu, too, and I quietly tip-toe around them with my camera trying to capture the moment.
But the moments come when I am least prepared -- the camera's in the other room or the sound of it turning on rouses the dogs or I can't get the flash to work and the exact moment is gone.
Or maybe it's that the camera just can't capture the bond these two seemed to have formed.
Today, Ann took Rubin to meet some of her students with whom she was having breakfast. While they were away, Lulu and I went for a long walk, longer than Rubin could have handled and when we came home, Ann and Rubin were still away. Lulu entered through the front door, her tail wagging, her nose in the air and she searched each room not to find Ann, but to find Rubin. When he was no where to be found, she came back to me and cocked her head as if to say, "He'll be home soon, won't he?"
And when he did come home, she greeted him with a paw slap and a smile and they raced to the backyard and rolled among the weeds.
Later in the afternoon, I attended a "pool party" my students had at a family's house. I took Rubin because I knew how much they'd like to see him and he, them. All the girls were in the pool, their ten year old bodies comfortable in their swimsuits, their mothers huddled together talking about how difficult it's been to get their daughters to wear bras, the fathers huddled around the grill talking about a new car one of them had purchased. The girls screamed when Rubin greeted them at the edge of the pool and for the next hour, they tried to do everything they could to get him into the water. He was content to play with the big English Setter, Montana, and race around the pool with his playful smile.
When we got home, Lulu again greeted him with the same affection and they both immediately fell asleep at the back door cradled into each other.
He's gonna miss her when she goes back home and she, I think, will miss him. Good thing they only live 3 blocks away from each other.
Yes, Rubin is getting bigger and he's getting older. Soon he'll be a full-grown dog and no longer a puppy, but he'll always be a muppet character, I think, and he'll always be Lulu's best friend.
Swimming is my new avocation. Perhaps my lineage -- poodle and lab -- has ingrained in me the need to leap into great bodies of water, though it's not so much as a need as an overwhelming desire.
I am growing bigger. I see it in the black pads of my feet. There is a ways to go before I am fully adult, but when I stand on the beach -- a canine stud, if I do say so myself -- I look like a big dog ready to conquer the whole world (well, at least the parts where there's water!).
My favorite trick, after I've roused Lulu's play genes is to hide behind the river rocks and wait to pounce when she turns her back. These rocks, I've been told, are extra special as they were the rocks chosen from Chester's favorite river spot in memory of his great service as the family dog. I can feel their power and I hope one day to be remembered so fondly.
Monty did, too, but he slept sitting up.