Working with the dogs gives me a wonderful sense of fulfillment. They keep my life active and busy.
ELBEE I understand that’s a very good thing for seniors.
Over the past several months, I’ve felt such a sense of gratitude as we’ve returned to in-person hospital visits. Seeing the faces of the kids in the neuropsych units light up when the dogs walk in is an indescribable gift.
In this cautiously optimistic period following the main surge of COVID, Gus and Stanley have also been doing lots of special events. There seems to be a real need for the comfort of therapy animals.
This past week was a perfect example. Along with five other dogs and two miniature horses, they went to the UCLA Health board meeting, which was celebrating its tenth anniversary. You could feel the excitement as the large crowd walked out of the auditorium and saw the animals on the patio.
My friend commented that the shaft of light shining down in the photo on the 
right, was Charley and Elbee, my first two therapy dogs, watching over Gus and Stanley. I wish I could say that the two of them did a perfect job but things don’t always go as planned.
Gus was pretty low key but kept rolling over for belly rubs. Stanley, who’s generally very calm, had his own issue. He loves Blue Moon, one of the miniature horses, and was like the obnoxious kid showing off to get her to notice him. Blue Moon, fortunately, is used to the attention and takes it in stride.
ELBEE “In stride?” Is that a weak attempt at a joke?
STANLEY Excuse me for showing my feelings.
As for the mountains, I have all sorts of interesting 
adventures when I’m hiking with Henry. Last week it was when I was up on one of my favorite overlooks doing push-ups.
ELBEE She’s a showoff but I’m a little impressed.
A woman hiking by, using two walking sticks, saw us and stopped to chat. She shared that several months ago she had been coming up a nearby trail and had fallen and broken her ankle in three places. She’d had to be rescued.
As she told me the story, I realized that I had been there with Henry that morning! I’d seen the low hovering helicopter, the emergency workers running across the mountains and the ambulance on dirt Mulholland.
She’d undergone a few surgeries and had a long difficult recovery but she was back. I’d thought about her often and was so grateful that the universe had let me know she was okay.
