The Time Has Come

I’ll be saying goodbye to Shadow later this morning (I last wrote about why on December 23). A veterinarian who makes house calls will be arriving around 11 a.m. to administer to her with a respect and a dignity that is hard to find on the cold and sterile metal surfaces of an animal hospital.

Shadow came into my life on the afternoon of September 5, 1994. I want to say it was accidental, but it was anything but. I was two months into the task of recovering from my near-fatal motorcycle collision (and doing a pretty suckass job of it) when our lives intersected on a patch of grass beside Lake Balboa in Van Nuys.

In the whole mess of negativity I was mired she brought a much-needed positive, one that’s lasted 17 years, 4 months, and 11 days.

Right about now, it feels like it’ll take about that long to get over her being gone.

I love you Shadow and I was blessed to have you in my life. I don’t want you to go. But it’s time for me to put my selfishness aside and set you free.

UPDATE (12:18 p.m.): With one final breath Shadow passed peacefully at high noon with me by her side. Amidst the tears now and those to come, I am surprised to find my grief tempered with relief that her ordeal is over.

UPDATE (12:58 p.m.): Shadow’s spiral to complete immobility her last months made it hard to remember how much she liked to romp and stomp. Which is what makes finding this clip of her charging up our front steps in 2005 a complete treasure that simultaneously made me laugh and cry.

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Will

Will Campbell arrived in town via the maternity ward at Good Sam Hospital way back in OneNineSixFour and has never stopped calling Los Angeles home. Presently he lives in Silver Lake with his wife Susan, their cat Rocky, dogs Terra and Hazel, and a red-eared slider turtle named Mater. Blogging since 2001, Will's web endeavors extend back to 1995 with laonstage.com, a comprehensive theater site that was well received but ever-short on capital (or a business model). The pinnacle of his online success (which speaks volumes) arrived in 1997, when much to his surprise, a hobby site he'd built called VisuaL.A. was named "best website" in Los Angeles magazine's annual "Best of L.A." issue. He enjoys experiencing (and writing about) pretty much anything creative, explorational and/or adventurous, loves his ebike, is a better tennis player than he is horr golfer, and a lover of all creatures great and small -- emphasis on "all."