Loss of My Traveling Partner

It breaks my heart to have to share this. As I had indicated my last post. I have the sad news to share of the loss of my longtime traveling partner Maxine. She passed away suddenly an unexpected on Sunday, August 9. The past 12 years she’s not only been my best friend but my constant companion. We were on our way back from visiting Linda and her granddaughters and sometime along the trip she passed in the next world. It still doesn’t seem real; I’ll awake and wonder where she is and then realize she is no longer with me. She had not really been sick but had been experiencing problems over the last year that come with age. I had stopped and then realized she had laid down and passed away. She looked so peaceful I thought she was just sleeping soundly. Here are couple photos of her right after we got home and I had carried her back into the RV. She was truly a great dog and she will be missed by all that knew her. As many of you have heard me say before I swore, she was Sonia reincarnated because I loved her dearly one minute and she would drive me up the wall the next. Just like any good partner. In this blog she’s been the main character of focus all these years. Because who can’t love a face like that.

All you have to do is go back to previous posts and you can see what a delight she brought to me and many many others. I’m going to highlight some of the fun times we had over the last few weeks. As I mentioned before Linda came to visit me few weekends ago and we went kayaking and swimming. We had taken Maxine along most of the time. The funny thing is she wasn’t used to me getting in the water with her. And didn’t know how to act she paced back and forth on the shoreline and didn’t want to come in with me. Here is a photo of Linda’s kayaks that we took out on the lake. We paddled out to a little island and went for a swim. Here we are on the island looking back to the shore where we came from. Here Linda had swam out ahead of me. I had my waterproof camera and swam out the joiner and took a picture of the kayaks on the island. Here’s a selfie, of the two of us. I’m sure Linda won’t like that I put these pictures out of her. But I think she looks great. The next week my oldest daughter Crystal and her husband Josh came to visit for a few days. And of course, Maxine was overwhelmed to see her. And that evening we went down to the lake for a swim to cool off. Crystal and Josh got right in the water.

They swam out to this large rock a ways from the shore.

Maxine got right and swam out towards them.

And unlike with me, Maxine would bring her toy right to Crystal and let her pull her around.

The next morning, we all went for a ride around the lake and Maxine sat in the back seat with Crystal and enjoyed the ride.

The next weekend Maxine and I went down to visit Linda and her two granddaughters. She had a great time getting to know the girls and was enjoying the weekend thoroughly. On Saturday the five of us went down to the little pond. While Linda and the girls went for a boat ride. Maxine and I stayed, on the shore took these pictures. On Sunday morning Maxine and I sat out with Linda and had morning tea. Here Maxine is sitting right up next to Linda showing her approval of her.

And then a little while later the girls came out to join us and took turns entertaining Maxine.

I left midday on Sunday, heading home, not planning on seeing Linda and the girls till the following weekend. And then the tragedy happened. I called Linda in a panic mode not really believing what happened. She offered to drop everything and come and be with me Sunday night. After saying no three times, over the next several phone calls. I finally said yes, on the fourth try and she came running to my aid with the girls to comfort me. Which I needed more than I realized. They stayed with me the next couple nights. We all went swimming on Monday and Tuesday after I finished working in the morning. It was nice to cool down and spend time with the girls. On Tuesday afternoon they headed back to Linda’s place and I kept busy the rest of the day cleaning and organizing. It wasn’t till Tuesday night and Wednesday that I came to realize how quiet it was without Maxine or anyone else around. During the week the girls took the feathers that Linda and I had been gathering and made headbands for all of us. They sent me this photo of the two of them, which put a smile on my face and made me feel better. When I came to visit the following weekend, we all put on our headbands and Linda took this photo. Linda and I picked berries again over the weekend and got a couple baskets full. I brought them home with me and on Sunday evening, I cooked down another batch of jam.

I canned another 12 plus jars of jam. Between the two of us we had canned three dozen jelly jars full and other assorted containers. We have been eating and sharing the berries steadily.

I’m sure it will take me quite some time to get used to Maxine not being around. But I want to think if she truly was Sonia reincarnated. That she felt that me finding Linda and being as happy as I have been. It was her time to move on knowing I would be taking care of. “This is what I truly want to believe.” Well that’s it for now. And even though Maxine will not be traveling with me anymore. In her honor my blog will still stay as “On The Road With Maxine And Me”. Till next time “Peace and Happiness to Everyone”, Rick