ANDRA

“Today is a good day to die.”

According to Wiki, this phrase is frequently attributed to Crazy Horse, but the earliest reference attributes it to Oglala Lakota chief Low Dog who fought with Sitting Bull at Little Big Horn.

None of the backstory matters to Andra. She knows today is her day, and she knows that every day is good because she is Dog Who Knows.

Andra is my everything bagel, my hot dog all the way, my whole enchilada. She’s 100% in, if it includes me. Today is just another great day in the life of Andra, the Heart of my Heart.

Today, Andra feels my sadness and so do the other members of her pack, the young ones she so willingly helps learn to be good dogs. She’s chilling on the sofa behind me while Louie and Shaman vocalize puppy maneuvers on the dog bed beside her. We listen to Fleet Foxes and Paul Simon, Mercedes Sosa and Joni Mitchell this morning because she loves them like I love them.

Andra teaches the unteachable, including me. She’s teaching me now about Feeling the Feels of The Last: last breakfast and last neighborhood walk. Soon there will more lasts, but I’m grateful to stop at two for now. I’m going out to mow the yard. She’ll come with me and hunker down in one of her wallows, digging down into the cool earth like she means it.

One. Last. Time.