Somehow summer has passed. I did not attend any dog shows. I hoped to see N24, Jelly’s breeder, today at the Somerset Hills KC show but she was unable to make it. This was the day of the Borzoi Club of Central NJ Specialty Show. But somebody else did. Sometimes, what goes around comes around. Our first contact in the borzoi world in September 2003, Casanova’s breeder, N23, had re-entered the borzoi show ring about two years ago with a beautiful boroi bitch and has been showing her with some success. Now, her littermate, a dog, is being shown. This weekend, he has been out with a notable handler. She has been taking the breed all weekend. But N23 has been coming in BOS with his bitch. This means it has been two years now since N5, our mentor and President of the Borzoi Club of Central New Jersey, has not won our Club’s Specialty Show, since last year, N24’s beautiful “Hunter” won the Breed.
There were some friends notably absent, some due to illness, and some due to travel. We don’t always get to do everything we want, especially if there are conflicts on the calendar. I have become a real veteran of calendar conflicts this year. One year ago, I took a part time job in a department store in Westfield, NJ. After a year, I updated my resume and posted it on Indeed.com and Linked-in.com. It was well received, and I was offered a far better job in a much better department store in Bridgewater, NJ in a beautiful, new mall. I believe I will be much happier in this setting. Moreover, it is a full time work opportunity for me, the first I have been able to find in ten years. This has had an enormously positive effect on my moods. I am elated and thrilled. I feel far more experienced than I did a year ago when I began in the other store. I was gripped by terror and anxiety for quite some time but forced myself to face it in spite of my agony. Now, I feel some stress but I believe it will be over in a few days and I will be very comfortable there. I am optimistic this will have a very positive effect on my finances which have been under great strain over the past two or three years, since getting Jelly and Tresor’s unexpected return. I had “LT” install a dog door, and that involved some renovation on the deck, and when Tresor came, it required some areas of my fence to be changed and made higher.
Thinking of Tresor, it is nine months already that he is gone. I still sense his spirit here with me in the house and I do not feel lonely for him. I will always be so grateful to have had him returned to me by his foster family.
Regarding Jelly, I have the most strange and surprising mews. She was diagnosed with chylothorax in May, even though her presentation was mild, not acute. However, her condition has not worsened, and if anything, even with the brutal heat we have had this summer, she has rallied and seemingly “recovered” for lack of a better word, which theoretically is impossible. Life can be very strange. A seemingly strong, healthy dog dies suddenly in my arms. Another dog receives a devastating diagnosis and is expected to die imminently and several months later shows no sign of the disease. I can only pray and embrace them both to my heart for they are so precious and dear. I feel that although Jelly will be my last borzoi in my home, someday I will co-own Hunter with N24. I adore him and he loves me; I can feel his love when we are together. He is a beautiful borzoi in every way and he makes me very happy.
The Specialty show is over now for another year. I am getting ready for bed. I am alone of course, alone now, and expect to be forever. I believe I have loved for the last time. “LT” has a new lady in his life. They went on a long European vacation together and he said they had a very nice time. However, he lives by his own rules and he just had to come by and tell me all about it. Being in a relationship with him for any woman would not be easy. That part is behind me. Now, I can just think of the love I had for him as a memory and just be happy when he calls and asks if he can come over and see Jelly and me. I still love to post photographs of him with Tresor from time to time on FB. That way, people will always know I appreciate all he did for me and my dogs a long time ago.