Photo shard: Apple Cup Sunday

What was it about me when it came to you back then? That whole pleasing you thing? We didn't have a hope in hell of finding a place in our lives for sharing a dog, let alone a cat, but there I was out looking for one for us. Came mighty close, too, to finding the dog of our dreams. A phone call, and the lack of a fenced yard, intervened. Thank goodness. I think we would have done better with a cat, anyway.

So there I was, trolling the cages at the Humane Society in Silverdale. Getting serious with my mission. It was the phone call from the ferry that changed everything. It was a call that told me that our pretend life was not real life, that told me that you had a reason to be happy that I didn't cross over to Edmonds with you that bright and beautiful Saturday afternoon like we had planned. It was just going to be a lark for me. A quick ride over, a few laughs, a peck on the cheek and then a slow ride back home to Kingston. You were in your car, waiting in line for the ferry to dock when a sheriff walked by. Of all the people in the whole wide world to pass by, he was someone that you knew. He was a member of your church. It would have been a major bust. We had had that kind of scare before, and we had a few more of those incidents coming up. You were not as invisible as you thought you were. I can only imagine, in all our travels, in all our adventures, how many folks saw us in action and never breathed a word. But it was the "siting" that put everything in perspective. Things like dogs, for instance.

I was at the animal shelter when that call came in. I had been looking for a dog to take home. Looked hard at a beagle that day, and by the time I left pulled it's slip to have it held for twenty four hours. I read the Humane Society literature about what was expected of me as a dog owner, looked hard at my yard and wondered if I could pull it off. A beagle is a runner, and the shelter tended to get alot of them because of that problem. My yard was a sieve, and even if I went home and slammed together a temporary shelter and fencing arrangement I would still have to worry about winter. Where to put a dog that has that kind of energy? I was walking regularly then and it wouldn't have been a problem, exercise-wise, but I was gone all day and that dog would have been alone. I could imagine the destruction and the eventual disappointment of coming home and finding that dog long gone.

So, I went back and walked the dog the next day, thought hard about it some more and gave up the idea of owning the beagle. Should've picked up a cat, instead.

You were with a pal that day at the Apple Cup in Seattle. You had no team in particular to root for. Spent the night in Edmonds, ate miserably, took in some outlet stores up past Marysville, and then, without much improvement in the food department, took on the game. I heard that your pal came down every year, that this, like the annual hotel room/shopping extraganza in Seattle at Christmastime, was just part of your life. I thought hard about that and filed it away thinking "if only".

If only I had really looked hard at that bit of your life for what it was worth, applied it to the life we thought we wanted to live. At that moment I couldn't see the writing on the wall, and frankly, even if I did, I'm sure I wouldn't have cared. Sometime I look at those times and think, as I look at the photo you snapped of you and your buddy, Minute Man style, arm extended, camera in hand, lens pointed in, that you developed and later passed on to me, that for a moment in time you were truly mine. All those gimmicks and trips and toys that you had at your fingertips were just there for you to play with. You were bored to tears and none of it mattered: you had the ear of a man who payed attention to you for a change. Your words were golden, you were loved, we were invincible and for awhile that was enough for both of us.

It was if we had our own monumental game going on at that time. The coin was tossed long before, and maybe the game was thrown well before we hit the field, but we took on the opposing team with heart and soul, my dear, with brass and sweat and all those things that said "screw you, this is our field, go home". Only to later on get trounced into the dirt by your God and a man who knew how to talk you into submission once again.

The Apple Cup comes and goes every year. I know in my heart of hearts that you and your pal must be going. I can't see that perk going away any more than I can see your annual trips and hotel rooms, musicals and shopping sprees disappearing. Face it, I fell in love with a princess, a wandering princess just like that character Jasmine in Alladin. And you? My love, you fell in love with a street rat, one disguised as hard working librarian, and for a moment, one brief and shining moment, you lived, loved and were loved in return.

So, to that end, I have to wonder: if I had taken that ferry, would life be different today? And if so, who would have named the cat?

Your WHMB