Monday Motivation - A Tribute to My Dog

I had originally planned to do today’s Monday motivation, the last in the series on goals, on the redemptive power of affirming goals, but I have to pivot. I just don’t have it in me to dive into such a huge topic. Sometimes life gets in the way. 

Early last week, my almost ten-year-old-dog Marlowe started to breathe as if she had a small doggy cold. After a few days, we called the vet and they told us if she didn’t get better to bring her in the next day.

That next day was Thursday. I walked Marlowe to the vet, she got some tests and x-rays, and the vet told me that she had late-stage lung cancer, and at the most had a week to live before her lungs gave out. I took her home it complete and total shock, hoping to have a few days to love on her, take her to the park, make her as much bacon as she could eat, but her breathing got worse almost immediately, as if as soon as the news came out, as soon as we knew how sick she was, she let go of her charade. She didn’t make through the night on Thursday before we had to help her cross the rainbow bridge. 

And so I’m going to wait a week to do the final episode on goals, because the topic is as emotional and important to me as anything I’ll ever discuss, and I just can’t record it when I am so raw and sad from losing my best friend. I wouldn’t do it justice. 

So I’m going to take a moment to say thank you to Marlowe. She never left my side as I stayed up late starting this podcast, making the website, designing training materials. She was pure love, pure joy. She was my protector, my companion. I already miss hearing her snore as I work. I miss her checking in with me when it had been too long since I last pet her. 

Life’s short guys. Seasons change so fast. You wake up with a dog who has a cold, you go to bed and she’s passed on. I guess in that way this motivation is not to wait. Take it from Brian in as raw of shape as you’ll ever hear me, pet your dog, kiss your partner, hug your kids, write your sentences. Because I’d already do almost anything to throw her ball and watch her dumb, happy face as she brings it back. But some doors when they shut, they shut. We can’t stop tragedy or pain, but we can live our short lives in a way that when those doors shut, we won’t look back with regret. 

Thank you for letting me share a little about Marlowe. I’ll be back next week with the final Monday Motivation of the year. I hope you have a wonderful week of writing.  

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