Woodrow on the Bench

by Jenna Blum

Libby eBook

Published: 2021

Genre: non-fiction, dog

Wow. She's a good writer. I was sobbing in the car as I read it. I told Louie, "it's about an old dog and the owner doesn't want to have to put him down because he still likes walks and treats." He said, "Just like Pepper." Blum is a really talented writer. I've already checked out another book of hers.

This! I hadn't heard of this before: www.journeyspet.com Quality of Life Scale Calculator! Jumping or mobility, ouch or  pain, uncertainty and understanding, respiration or breathing, neatness or hygiene, eating and drinking, you, social ability . . . there's a scoring system. A higher score is better ("80 is a happy, healthy pet!") "A score of 8 is a pet that is suffering. A low score on any of the measures may be a reason to consider euthanasia." I definitely think it's helpful to have a scale.

Page 51 - "Much of August passed this way: Woodrow napped in the water like a hippo, I worked with my feet on his back. Sometimes I set my iPad down and watched Woodrow sleep and thought about those swims when he was younger, how he'd leaped for hours from a rocky cliff into a Minnesota quarry or picked up the lawn sprinkler and chased Jim and me around the yard with it. I thought about my mom's life, too, or rather the end of it, how she went from shopping excursions to sitting in the parking lot at the beach because she was too weak to get out of the car, from sunning on her front walkway with her coffee and the Palm Beach Post to watching TV in the bedroom to finally just her bed. Her existence had dwindled like that small white square on old TVs, shrinking until it winked out altogether. Woodrow might wallow, but he would never swim again."

 

Her grief and sadness over losing her mom (I think) made her more determined not to say goodbye to her dog. That aging, slowing down, diminishing world . . . is very sobering. I want my life to matter. I want to live big while I can. I miss my mom.

Page 116 - "I sighed inwardly. Privately, I found the concept of self-care - like the advice to 'Live your best life!' - somewhat tyrannical. A nice concept, but often difficult to execute. What was wrong with living one's most mediocre life and being content with it?"

This made me laugh! "Living one's most mediocre life" is an encouraging concept when you feel low energy.