Best ever

It’s Sunday and I’m in the Philadelphia suburbs, at my sister's house. We drove up yesterday and we're going home today after my nephew's graduation lunch. I’m not sure why they decided to have a lunch gathering on Sunday afternoon rather than a party on Saturday night but it's not my business. I show up when and where I'm invited. 

It's a beautiful summery soft June day. My weather app predicted unseasonably cool temperatures today but it's really quite warm. Weather predictions are just guesses at this point. Who needs NOAA, right? We'll get what we get, weather-wise, and we won't get upset. 

Case in point: It was peak June grad party weather two hours ago when I started writing this and now it's cool, gray, and drizzling. But who cares. We're going to be inside in a restaurant, anyway. 

Two of my nephews, along with my older son, have June birthdays, so between birthday parties and grad parties, we've been spending at least one June weekend here every year for the last 25 years. June makes me nostalgic for grad parties and birthday parties and pool days, even as these events are happening. Nostalgia in advance, I suppose. 

*****

My sister's black lab is 13 now. I walk the silly boy every time I visit, and I'm pretty sure I'm his favorite non-resident human. His name is Duke. When I arrive at their house, Duke always greets me with great enthusiasm, and then heads directly to the closet where his leash is kept, tail wagging in happy anticipation. And I seldom disappoint him. 

Duke was sleeping when I arrived yesterday, and we were all having dinner when he woke up, and then it was dark and so we didn’t get to take a walk. He didn’t complain, but he shot me reproachful looks throughout the evening. I’m not angry, he seemed to say - I’m just terribly disappointed. 

But the sun came out for a bit on Sunday morning and we didn’t have to be anywhere until 1 PM, so I came downstairs and went right for the closet, and Duke was just beside himself with excitement. A walk! I will see stuff and smell stuff and stroll about the neighborhood as if I owned the place! Get me out there! Let’s go, Aunt Claire - let’s GOOOOO! 

My sister had warned me the night before that we wouldn’t get far. Duke has pretty bad arthritis and is worn out after a block or two. But the thing is that he doesn’t remember this from one walk to the next. I’m sure he feels the discomfort in his joints but I don’t think he makes a connection between that discomfort and the inability to go far when he’s out and about. Every walk is new to him. When he sits still for a moment waiting for a human to attach the leash, you can just tell that Duke is planning for the longest, sniffiest, best walk ever. 

We went two blocks before Duke started to lead me around the corner to head home, and although I could tell he was tired, he didn’t seem to mind. He enjoyed that short little 15-minute walk around his neighborhood as much as he’d have enjoyed a two-hour hike in the woods. It was his best walk ever, until his next walk. 

Isn’t he lucky? They age, dogs do, just like we do, but they don’t worry about it because they don’t know it’s coming. They don’t lament their lost youth because they don’t remember it. There’s always a treat in the offing, even if they just had a treat five minutes ago, because they don’t worry about their weight and they don’t know that their humans do worry about their weight. Every minute carries with it the possibility of a treat or a nice scratch or a rousing game of fetch or a nice long walk. Every walk is always going to be the best one ever. 

*****

We went to the party right on time. It was a sit-down luncheon in a private room in a very nice restaurant, with balloons and decorations in my nephew’s school colors and a graduation photo on a big poster board with Sharpies for everyone’s signatures and well wishes. The elegant setting and the cool rainy weather were probably better suited to an 80th birthday party than a high school graduation, but apparently, my nephew didn’t really want any kind of party at all, so this was a compromise. And it was lovely. 

My nephew is going to Temple University. I also went to Temple (though I graduated from UMUC) and I’m delighted that we’ll have another Owl in the family. I gave him $200 as a graduation gift, and told him to spend it on anything he wants. My sister-in-law, a sensible person, suggested that he deposit $100 in his savings and keep the other $100 to spend, which is a perfectly reasonable compromise. I’m like every other doting aunt - I hope he buys something nice for himself. 

This June party was very different from the sun-soaked lively outdoor parties of my children’s and older nephews’ childhoods, but it was memorable in its own way. Every summer party is the best one ever.