Dejah is officially 9 years old this month, although she didn’t actually join our clan until Oct. 4, 2013. She is the shaggy old girl now, patient-ish big sister to Summer Winds-or Willow, named after her parents and her beloved predecessor.
Dejah Thoris, Princess of Mars, is of course named after the Edgar Rice Burroughs heroine, a name I chose so I can occasionally plug the magnificent 2012 film with an undeserved reputation.
Dejah moves patiently and deliberately these days, except when she goes to the vet, where she acts like an excitable puppy who never learned to sit still.
Our dogs are wiggly balls of fur who charm kids of all ages, and then they are pals for life, and then life leaves them, leaving us with memories that make us smile except for that last memory, which in Dejah’s case is well in the future, we hope.
Golden retrievers are handsome, sweet companions except when they are full of sassafras and being outrageously mischievous. As I watch Summer prance around the yard in the sun, I partly can’t wait for her to mellow into a fine, obedient friend, and I partly hope these puppy years last for a very long time.
Those sweet, peaceful days will be here sooner than we wish, as sweet as they will be. It doesn’t seem so long ago that Dejah was the crazy puppy tormenting us with her silliness, and while she can still be silly, she has relinquished the title of “crazy puppy” to Summer.
So happy birthday, Dejah, and stick around for a while, will ya?