The passion for man's best friend
Jon and I met many years ago. He is a personal trainer. I started going to his home to train with him. I knew the first day I arrived at Jon's house, that I was going to love my training sessions. I didn't come to this realization because Jon was such a nice guy (which he is) but rather, I met Xena. She greeted me at the front door with kisses, tail wagging and eager to be part of my workout sessions. For the weeks to come, Xena would take every opportunity to grab a few kisses while I was bench pressing. She had me captive! I didn't mind. She decided that my rest breaks were a great opportunity for me to throw the ball for her, so I did. I spent many months training with Jon and getting and giving love to Xena. Life happened and I stopped going to train. I missed Xena. I kept up with her on social media.
Skip ahead several years, to this past December.
I received a text message from Jon's girlfriend Marianne, informing me that Xena (now 13) has cancer and she would like to get a gift certificate for a photo session for Jon and Xena for Christmas with one stipulation. The photo shoot needs to be right after Christmas so that the Christmas decorations can be in the picture. As a rule, I do not do photo sessions during the holiday but I made an exception.
Several days after Christmas, we had a beautiful day for Xena's photo shoot. It was great seeing her after all of those years. She looked beautiful, had a sparkle in her eye still. No one would have ever known she was sick. She was a rockstar on her shoot. She did everything we asked her to do. Jon was hopeful that the treatments she was planned to receive the following week, would give her more time. More than the 6 months he was told she would have without treatment.
One Sunday morning, 2 weeks after the shoot, I was at the computer, finishing up on editing Xena's images when I received a devastating text. Marianne informed me that Xena had passed the night before. I cried, staring at my screen. In just an instant, this photo shoot became priceless; a gift that I was deeply honored to be able to give to Jon. I finished the editing that day and sent the photos to Jon. I heard, receiving those images were bitter sweet. I can only imagine.
Months went by and another text comes in from Marianne. Jon is expanding his heart for Maximus!
Maximus is handsome and a puppy! The photo shoot tired him and me both out. He is so playful, full of energy, distracted easily, wanted to take in the whole world in an instant. How many people can he meet? How many blades of grass can he eat? How many carrots will Dad give him as a treat?
Of course Maximus has not replaced Xena, but rather opened up Jon's heart for another adventure with man's best friend.
I am so glad that Maximus is now in my life as well. I am so excited to watch him grow and mature. I am honored that Jon allowed me the opportunity to capture this crazy boy in his puppy years. I am certain, this won't be the last post about Maximus.
I will end this blog with this last story. At the end of Maximus' session, Jon showed me something that left me speechless, teary eyes, humbled and honored. He lifted up his shirt and showed me a tattoo of Xena on his chest. It was beautiful! Then he informed me that the tattoo is of one of my images that I took of Xena at her photo session. I'm still speechless, get teary eyed, humbled and honored...thank you Jon!!
