Mondays with Mike: All fall down

Luna, Beth’s new dog, is a gem. She doesn’t wake us up at 5:30 to eat (which is when Whitney used to wake us up). She stays out of the kitchen. She likes to play fetch. She only poops once a day. She walks really fast.

That big red coat provided a nice cushion.

And sometimes too fast.

I know this because I’ve been on a ton of walks with Beth and Luna since they got home from The Seeing Eye. And I can barely keep up. Our pal Laura witnessed it first-hand this past weekend when we took a walk downtown. She and I also witnessed Beth taking a scary, headlong fall. Beth was wearing a big puffy coat, and that helped ensure there was no harm. But it’s a very difficult thing to watch.

Or to think about, if you’re me. I try not to think about the perils Beth faces in everyday life. Mostly I’m OK, and manage not to dwell. But this past few months, as we retired Whitney, I’ve been more attuned to Beth’s vulnerabilities. To how remarkable she is to live the full life she does.

And so, I was vociferous in suggesting to Beth that she needed to learn to slow Luna down. (Especially after a snowfall.)

Beth took it to heart. And yesterday, before we headed out to the gym where Beth swims and I work out, Beth put a thing called the Gentle Leader on Luna’s snout. The Gentle Leader makes it easy for Beth to provide Luna a reminder to focus on what’s ahead when they encounter distractions like other dogs. It also slows Luna’s pace.

And as we walked east on Harrison yesterday, our usual route, Luna indeed walked at much more relaxed pace.

Things were going fine and then I noticed Luna and Beth veering left a little. Then I noticed that Luna was trying to route around a big, snaking pavement crack. Then I kind of froze up before saying, “there’s a crack!” By that time Beth was nearly horizontal on the way to the pavement.

There was an awful thud. And a combination scream/groan from Beth who wisely laid in place to take stock. Her knees hurt. Her wrist hurt. A pizza delivery guy who witnessed it pulled over to ask whether we needed help.

Beth was eventually able to rise to her feet with my help. We turned around to head home. I tended to her left knee, which was bruised and slightly bloodied, but overall, OK. The other one was fine.

We iced her wrist, and at first Beth had hope that that’s all that would be required.

Today, not so much. She’ll be going to the doctor and we’re expecting bad news. But it’s not her dog harness hand, so Beth expects not to miss a beat teaching classes.

Still. It’s hard sometimes, for both of us. In the universal kind of tug of war that life partners tend to have, I worry too much sometimes and Beth doesn’t worry enough. Or, we worry about different things.

And I’m left wondering if I’d just shut my trap about how fast Luna was going, maybe the second fall doesn’t happen,

On the other hand, Beth did everything right—the Gentle Leader did make sense.

And I’m reminded, once again, that despite all precautions and intentions, bad things can happen to really good people.