At piano lessons today Lois and I discussed our dog, Beatrix. She said she'd take her if she didn't have 3 cats....
Mike is getting details into what we have to do to take Bea with us. We are willing to pay for all the records, micro-chip, transporting her etc. We have been told by several that if we are taking a pet we want to take the Patriot Express right into Misawa AB as the trip is hard for pets through Tokyo and then you still have a train ride to Misawa....customs and such.
Mike was told yesterday that there are NO MORE flights of military personnel direct to Misawa AB. We will be flying in to Tokyo. After hearing the details of the trip, Mike fears that Beatrix won't survive the trip. We're all incredibly attached to our wonder dog. She's been a part of our family 15 years. She's 17 - 18 years old. She's nearly blind. She doesn't hear well. She has had to take aspirin a few times this winter for arthritis. We know she's old...but we also know she's stability for our children - and us. ::sniff::
Our older four children are all living in apartments. They won't be able to keep her. She needs out often during the day these days....
We are in a quandary. I know many of you will think this is silly...but it's not to us. Having been a Third Culture Kid and raising Third Culture Kids , I know that it is important for the children to have some parts of life remain the same during our many transitions. Beatrix has been one aspect of that for us. We've walked her in MT, TX, AK and look forward to walking her in Japan....but would it be more traumatic to collect her in Tokyo and find she'd not made the trip?
Realistically, not many are going to want an old dog. Ok enough - I'm in tears and this isn't good for any of us....pray that we figure out what to do....and that we are at peace about it....I'm going to go think about something else on the list for a bit of time.
Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.