Almost September

Liberto and I went to the mall this morning to get me a few tops for work, then stopped at Petsmart to try the Jumbo size doggie-diapers for Pete. I'd already bought medium, but they were too small. In addition to incontinence, he has some bleeding. There's nothing we can do. The vet already offered to do surgery on his bladder, but I didn't see any benefit since he's already an old man in dog years, and would be an at-risk patient. The Jumbos don't fit very well either. Although they're marketed for incontinence, I think they must mean incontinence in excited puppies. We've purchased plastic at the hardware store and have lined the carpets in all his likely rest areas. I know that people less patient than we are would have hastened him on to doggie-heaven, but we believe that as long as he's not suffering and is still eating and having fun, it would be morally wrong.

I convinced Liberto to join my gym, the one near our house, in addition to the one he already belongs to downtown. I thought it would be fun if we could go together on the weekends. We went this afternoon for about an hour.

We got a three-line postcard from Shawn in today's mail saying he'd arrived at Ft. Jackson. There was an address printed on the postcard, with a statement in big letters saying "This is NOT your soldier's address." In other words, "Don't write back to this address." His car still sits in the driveway. He forgot to leave us the key. It's locked. I hope we don't have to move it for any reason.

We were saddened by the passing of Sen. Ted Kennedy, and watched his funeral this evening. I met him once in 1970, at a Democratic convention, or primary, or rally, I don't remember exactly. I had graduated from college in May that year and moved to Massachusetts for my first newspaper job. The bureau chief decided that we would drive to Boston for the convention. I remember going through a receiving line, being introduced to Mr. Kennedy by the Bureau chief, and shaking hands. He was just starting out as a politician then, so I had much less reason to admire him then as I do now. Over the years, he never let his wealth stand in the way of feeling genuinely compassionate for the less fortunate, especially people without access to health care. Hearing re-runs of his speech at one of the Presidential Conventions way, way back, I'm in awe of the way he pounded the podium with his fist and insisted that the cost of his son's medical work would bankrupt a normal family and therefore, it was imperative that this country develop universal health care. What I loved is his consistency in fighting for the needs of the poor all those years. Unlike many politicians, he never flip-flopped on his views, depending on which way the political winds were blowing. Furthermore, with all that wealth, he could have spent his life as a socialite rather than contributing to his country.