Love, Pure and Simple: Remembering Koa

Koa, the guiding star of our lives and frequently the star of this blog, loved Maine.  Florida’s extreme heat, profusion of venomous snakes, and beach regulations kept her life there fairly sedate.  In Maine, every chipmunk chirp was a call to arms.  She was free to plunge hurly burly through the pines and splash around in every brook.  What a joy to see that vitality unleashed.  She even took up paddle boarding.

One day, in the midst of this fun, she slowed down, found the shade of a red maple, and quietly passed away in my arms.  It was a stroke, and she was gone within minutes.  We have not yet ceased being shocked.  A family of two just doesn’t square in our hearts and minds.  It has been difficult to enjoy any of our usual outdoor pursuits without her, but we try anyway. 

Knowing that there will come a day when warm, happy memories will resume center stage, I am preparing a compendium of Koa’s many exploits.  For an emaciated, pregnant and near-to-death stray, she landed a glorious life.  We have expressed the true worth of this chapter in our lives in providing such a rich life for her.   

I will never forget the unclouded purity of love in her eyes as she gazed at me, or the way she would nuzzle my neck.  No one was immune to that look and she had many, many admirers.  Thank you to all of you who were kind to Koa.  Thank you, especially, to those who cared for her over these past seven years. Stacy, Donna and Tracy, Jan and David, Amy and Cess: thank you. 

Here are a few of the last photos we took of our “baby Moa”.  Safe travels to my best friend and constant companion.  Go get ‘em, Koa.