Denial is a River in Egypt

Our first walk in Stanley Park

It didn't sink in that I had adopted a senior dog for quite some time. Lilith was able to walk for two hours without slowing down until well into her fifteenth year. I have friends who can't do that! I took her to see a vet because she hadn't had a check-up in a while, and he told me that she had a heart murmur. Still, I didn't think much of it because she had plenty of energy and was so full of life. It wasn't until almost two years after I adopted her, when she began having mobility issues, that I started to think of her as an elderly dog.

These days, she has kidney disease and arthritis, but both conditions are under control. The kidney disease will eventually get worse, and one day, her body will stop functioning. I avoided that inevitable fact for a long time. Adopting Lilith was definitely a good decision, and I've never regretted it. I didn't regret it when she peed on the floor that time, I didn't regret it when I decided to temporarily stop travelling, and I didn't regret it when I had to fork out several hundred dollars at the vet last week. I won't regret it when she dies either, no matter how much it will hurt (and it will; that much I can't deny). I can't explain how much joy and love Lilith brings to my life. She is the canine embodiment of pure, undiluted love, and she makes me a better person.

During an 8 km walk when she was 15