the simple and the difficult

life offers up the most ludicrous, ridiculous situations sometimes.

no. often.

i’m supposed to be in milwaukee right now, directing “a year with frog and toad” for a great theater company called first stage milwaukee. at the “meet and greet” today i had very little to say, except that one of the things i love most about the original “frog and toad” stories by arnold lobel is how beautifully simple they are.

in the midst of that simplicity comes the difficulty of life.

instead of listening to a wonderful group of actors, young and old, learn and sing the music from the show (which is what i was doing an hour ago) i’m flying home to new york to see my partner rob, and spend a final evening with our dog reggie.

rob called me at 5:00 a.m. last sunday morning to say reggie had lost the use of his back legs, and couldn’t stand up. reggie has had health issues since we moved to new york, but nothing insurmountable. until now.

reggie has been with me since he was eight weeks old. in dog years, he’s now 92. when i went on tour with “mamma mia,” reggie joined me, traveling the country, living in hotels, and seeing more of the world than most human beings ever get to see.

he’s been lucky enough to have had three dads. steve, his first dad, died when reggie was just over a year old. rob’s been his dad since 2000. and me.

reggie and i have been through more together than most people i know. in terms of time, my relationship with reggie is surpassed only by my relationship with my mom and dad. i’ve put him through some tough times. and he’s put me through some too.

reggie’s also been unbelievably lucky to have an extended family like no other. so many people have taken care of him, loved him, stayed with him. picked up his poop. i wish i could name them all, but i know i’d forget that one person, and i don’t want to do that.

in the end, it was rob who carried him down the stairs of our fourth floor walk up, to our friends tim and michael’s waiting car, to take him to the dog hospital, where he’s been for the last two days. reggie couldn’t ask for a better dad than rob. rob has been the one in the thick of things, not only now, but many, many other times. cleaning up. taking care. of reggie, and me.

i’ve said goodbye to my fair share of people in life. my grandma clements. my friend lou hammer. steve. my mom.

this is so, so different. anyone who’s been there knows. anyone who has only looked in from the outside has no idea. none. losing him is like nothing i’ve ever experienced. he’s been my buddy, and my pal. and my good ol’ reggie. and i’ll miss him every day.

sleepy ol' airedale

a little over 100 years ago, the british police force first enlisted the service of police dogs -- four of them: jim, vic, ben and mick. the dogs accompanied officers patrolling hull docks in yorkshire.

those dogs were airedales.

i just read that the average life span for an airedale is 11.5 years. reggie the dog (excuse me, reggie the gentleman) turned 13 earlier this year.

this old dog may be sleepy right now, but tomorrow he'll be patrolling central park.

good ol' guy.

foxhounds on the ferris wheel

hey, i'm part of a "canine carnival" today. rottweilers on roller coasters? terriers on the tilt-a-whirl? chihuahuas on the carousel? no. just some great dog stories online. check it out.

a gentleman's birthday

reggie the dog is thirteen years old today.

depending on who you ask, that's anywhere from 65 to 91 in dog years. (the old model of seven dog years to our one is outdated.) he's been part of the family since he was eight weeks.

as one of his dad's, i'm never so proud as when we're on a walk or at the park and another dog owner asks his age, the reaction usually being some mixture of shock and surprise. "wow!" they say, "he's got so much energy!" or "i would have guessed he was a thirteen months!" not only do we want to be young, we want our pets to be too.

my favorite reaction came last fall, from a young, brown-haired girl, probably around 10 years old. on a walk down 95th toward central park, reggie stopped to sniff around a tree. the girl, passing by in the opposite direction, stopped and asked politely, "may i pet him?"

as she did, he looked up at her with his now somewhat foggy eyes, and his sweet old airedale smile. "how old is he?" she asked.

"almost thirteen" i said, expecting the usual reaction. there was none. she just looked back at reggie and continued scratching his chin.

"he's almost thirteen," i reiterated. "he's an old man."

the girl looked up with the sweetest smile and said, "no. he's a gentleman".

reggie hates snowmen

this is charlie. the mass of tan hair charlie is hugging is our dog reggie. with some help from his mom anne marie and his dad starmer, charlie's been taking care of reggie while we've been out of the country.

anne marie sent this email update today:

so it snowed here yesterday, and quite a bit by deleware standards. a few inches of accumulation. charlie and starmer made a snowman, which is charlie-size (that is to say, two and a half feet tall.) and reggie did something so funny last night i had to share.

i was going to bed at about midnight and reggie was standing by the back door growling. he had just gone out, so i wasn't sure what he wanted, but i let him out again, at which time he sprinted (yes, sprinted) down the stairs and headed over to the snowman and let loose. just barked, barked, barked.

he hates that snowman.

actually, i think he was guarding us. he is our guard dog against two and a half foot snowmen. i couldn't get him to stop and come inside...i had to get starmer up and out there to drag reggie away from the snowman. too much. i'm still laughing about it this morning.

good boy reggie. good boy.

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