Jasper Lily’s winter break escapades

Boy oh boy… Jasper Lily is sure lucky she’s such a cute dog because since she turned three, she’s become a bigger PITA (pain in the a$$). All week – despite walks before bedtime, Jasper gets restless and tries to jump down off my bed. Since my bed is so high and she’s actually rather small, I don’t let her do that so I tried putting her down. She goes a-wandering and ends up in the living room (Shelby used to do this too and I didn’t mind since Shelby was pretty quiet). Then the light in the courtyard goes on; probably a person coming home, a raccoon, another critter and BARK, BARK, BARK! So I can’t let Jasper roam freely. I can’t have her in my room since I hear “click, click, click” with her little nails. Eventually she does go under my bed into her airline carrier and I fall back to sleep for a couple hours.

BUT Jasper is a GOOD dog for the most part. She is SO adaptable. She had a great winter break with her mama! We flew up to Seattle for our longest trip yet (almost 11 days). Our flight to Seattle was delayed out of LAX and it was a holiday so there were a ton of kids and lots of other dogs. The dogs were definitely better behaved than the kids but it became a doggy-playground in Terminal 8. Dogs out of their carriers, chew toys all around, running, jumping, playing. I have never flown with 6 dogs on my flight. For anyone afraid or allergic to dogs, this would have been pure hell. Jasper – even though not off leash like the others – did partake in the fun and even stole a stuffed toy (we gave it back). And mid-flight, since Jasper is a service dog, she sat on my lap and another pooch ran down the aisle.

Hour one into our flight delay….

Sitting on my lap mid flight.

You cannot make this stuff up! So that was a super long travel day for my girl and it was FREEZING when we got to Seattle. And then we had a few straight days of rain and grey skies which made it hard to play outside in nature. But Jasper, as always, took it all in stride. I cannot get over how incredibly adaptable this dog is – despite many random and odd quirks and issues, she really just ‘goes with the flow’. She loves my mom and her house and I think just thinks, I am home now.

Happy Christmas!!!

Jasper and I did get the chance to visit one of my favorite forests that Shelby and I used to go to. Discovery Park is hundreds of acres and trails and a path to the beach. Even though the trees had shed their leaves for the winter, it was still beautiful, quiet, peaceful and serene. Shelby and I used to visit this every weekend and we would run through the trails together. Jasper – being the nature/forest dog that she is – loved it and had a blast. We went back twice. And to the local arboretum. So many squirrels to hunt and stuff to smell. Jasper LOVES nature.

Jasper in the forest!

Jasper with the mountains in the background.

She’s so happy in nature

We also drove to see my best friend and her dog, who is 18. He is very frail and I was worried how Jasper would be since she’s still quite the puppy. It’s like they have some language that they just know. Jasper was gentle around Elvis and Elvis ignored Jasper. It was really hard, though, to see a dog in that condition. It brought back memories of Shelby and how frail she was in the end and how I only ever saw beautiful puppy Shelby … never the older, tired dog that she had become. I am glad that my vision was blurred. Not that I would have loved Shelby any less but it made it better to not see Shelby slipping away … I always saw her as a spirited, spunky girl. Only now can I look back on those photos and see how she had aged … but she always had that sparkle in her eye.

I miss my sweet angel, Shelby, every day and each day, I grow to love Jasper more and more. But Shelby was and will always be my ‘child’. My first born. Maybe because Shelby was such the alpha in my life. She took care of me as much as I took care of her.

Jasper and I have a very different bond that I work to understand while trying to preserve and hold onto the love I have for Shelby. I want so much for Jasper to have her own story and live her own life and yet never lose what I had with Shelby. It is so complicated to be a human. How I long to be “more dog” and just accept life at face value.

But what I do know – is that Jasper has very much wormed her way into my broken heart and helped me heal. And I have done the same with her. To see her blossom more and more each day and become more and more confident is one of my greatest joys in life. She is brave. She is strong. She is happy. She smiles. She has unpacked her bags in my home and in my heart. I love our travels and our adventures. She makes life fun again. She makes life worth living.

And we are forever grateful that our angel brought us together and made us work for it. Because nothing this good in life is free and/or easy. And Jasper and I both know it. And again … who rescued who?