Dear Mina #6

Hey girlie girl,

It’s snowing – again! By now you’d have a very furry coat and be ready for romping in the snow outside. I’d grumble and bundle up and put on my boots and take you outside to get your fix. We’d walk around and stop into the leasing office to see our friends.

So, yesterday an old friend of yours dropped in for a visit. You remember Asia when she worked in the leasing office? She was in town to see her parents and stopped into the leasing office while I was there. I had to tell her you were gone, and that was hard. Asia said it was weird to see me without you. I sure don’t feel right without you by my side; never went into the leasing office without you.

I was there after work and helped out with laminating some fliers for snow instructions for residents, then went to happy hour with our friends, including your Auntie Lolo. It was fun but when I got home hours later it was the same feeling that I have whenever I don’t rush right home – guilt. Yet, I think you’d approve of me going out and about, right? I just have to get used to the idea of living outside our life together. It’s really hard.

But today I miss you because of the snow. Winter was your time and you loved nothing more than pushing through the snow with your pretty black nose. No matter how old you were, a good snowfall turned you into a puppy – at least for a little while.

Mina in the snow, Denver, 1999

She was such a little baby in December, 1999 (Denver)

I’ll think about you a lot this weekend if the snow is as deep as predicted and I’m trapped here. I hope to be able to help out with shoveling and stuff and I have some work to get done.

I miss you, my pretty pretty girl. It’s very lonely where I am. I hope with all my heart you’re so happy and so healthy that you don’t notice my tears.

Mina's snow face, 2006

 

Mina Loves Snow

Today across the mid-Atlantic we’ve got a dilly of a snowstorm. Already there’s at least 8 inches of snow on the ground here in Manassas and it’s coming down hard for the rest of the day. We’re all house-bound.

This is the sort of day Mina loves. I can’t tell you how much she loved snow. You can see a few pics of her enjoying the snow in the Mina Multimedia tab – look in the 1999 and 2006 sets. There should be more pictures of her romping in the snow but that would’ve meant taking my hands out of my pockets and out of my gloves and I don’t share Mina’s love of snow.

I always attributed my Mina girl’s love of snow to being born in October and spending the first few months of her life in the cold. But I learned from her first holistic vet that Wheaten terriers love cold weather, actually prefer it, and that was born out through Mina’s 13 years. Every time a little snow would fall she’d watch from her window and bark at me to get her out there RIGHT NOW! We don’t often get snowfall like we’re having this weekend, but that didn’t matter to Mina – any amount would do for her.

I miss Mina every minute of every day and I figure that’ll be true for the rest of my life. It’s hard to be house-bound just six weeks after our last Saturday together, but I’m trying to think of projects to keep my mind occupied. I’ve already gone outside to sweep snow off my car, sort of a memorial snow day ritual for Mina. She would come outside with me, off leash, and putter around in the snow until I was finished. When we got back upstairs, I’d take off my gloves and melt all the snow off her paws with my fingers before going inside, and then rub her down with her towel. That towel still hangs on the doorknob of the coat closet. Mina LOVED having her head rubbed with the towel and she’d move forward under the towel, through my legs, like a doggie car-dry machine. She always made me laugh.

Mina baby, you brought joy to every day and love and light to every moment