Black Ice:

A Mindfulness Teacher

My loyal Labrador Retriever Hank loved the snow; of course, his ancestors were bred to grab fishing nets in Canada’s icy waters. On snowy days, we’d clomp through the highest piles to a nearby fenced in lot where he could run, roll and leap, making our kids giggle endlessly. Hank was raised to be a companion dog for an autistic child and my son George won the puppy lottery, having Hank as cuddly friend for so many years.

It’s hard this winter, my first without Hank here, not to tear up a little when the snow falls, the memories of his happiness rising up from barely beneath my heart center.

Three weeks after Hank died, we adopted Odin, a beautiful black Saluki with tans paws that look like socks. We knew nothing about the breed, thinking we had registered to rescue a Greyhound. Instead, we got a call that there were many Salukis — who had been abandoned in Persian Gulf countries — ready for homes here in Southeast Pennsylvania.

We got in the car as quickly as we could and met Odin.

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I used to dream of going on a trip to Labrador with Hank. What would it be like for him to run and splash in the waters there? I wrote away for brochures though no one’s created a bring your Labrador to Labrador vacation (yet). I still look at the vivid photos that land in my inbox from the Newfoundland and Labrador tourist bureau and imagine Hank splashing in his ancestral shores.