Something About Mary

You may be wondering about Mary’s absence from our photos of our trip back to Missouri. You may think that flying with a dog is expensive. You would be wrong. It’s not expensive, it’s impossible. Policies may vary based on airlines, but on the options I had available to me, they would not fly her for any amount of money. No, you can’t just get her her own seat. No, there’s not an option for checking her in a big portable crate. No, it doesn’t matter if she’s a support animal. Unless she fits under the seat, she doesn’t get on the plane.

Other options were sparse. We were far too long just to have someone come by a let her out a few times a day, and our current address would have made that really inconvenient for anyone anyway. Someone suggested the “Trusted Sitter” service, where you join an associate of people who will stay at your house and take care of your dog while you’re gone. I know people on both ends of this game, those who’ve had the sitters and those who have done the home stays, and it has worked well for each. But we’re already staying at someone else’s house while she’s away. The house is full of all of her furniture, furnishings and a bunch of other stuff. It would be a violation of trust, and our lease to have a stranger move in for a week.

Although we’ve made friends in Tacoma, we weren’t really close enough to anyone to feel right about them keeping Mary for this long of a stay. But what I’m reluctant to ask of a friend, I’ll quickly tap a family member to do.

My Uncle Henry and Aunt Marilyn lived in the St. Louis area, so I spent less time with them than my tribe of more rural, close-by aunts and uncles that were over 20 in number. Henry and Marilyn had three children, lovely people one and all, each of whom quickly made their way to the West Coast upon coming of age and individually decided, “Yeah, this is better,” and didn’t return to Chesterfield. One is in Long Beach, CA, one is in Sonoma, CA, and one is in Portland, OR. This would have made a good blog, but blogging wasn’t a thing back then.

Cousin Susan in Portland is not only a somewhat convenient distance from us, but she is a dog person. We spent a couple of nights at her house when the boys were about nine and six years old, and Susan was raising Golden Doodle puppies at the team. The breed made quite an impression on us, not just in mannerism and cuteness, but the non-shedding trait was a big selling point. We were currently dog-less, and decided that a poodle-cross would be the next dog for us. Within a year we acquired Mary from someone in Missouri. She comes from a Labrador crossed to a Labradoodle, and doesn’t shed at all, but does warrant periodic grooming.

Susan generously and graciously offered to take Mary in while we were gone. It was for even a couple of days longer than we were in Missouri, due to our flight times and the commute to Portland. There is no one I would have trusted Mary with more. Susan is more of a dog expert than anyone I know. She is no longer raising puppies, but does still have dogs, so Mary had friends during her sleep-away. They were each considerably younger, but Susan said Mary did a good job of keeping up with them as they chased squirrels around the yard. When I picked Mary up, Susan even sent me home with gingerbread cookies she had just made, warm out of the oven. It felt very comforting to be blessed with such a supportive family connection 2,000 miles away from Missouri. And Mary had a happy Thanksgiving, and is now also happy to be back home with us.