no more fences

ever since we got dodger, he has attempted to escape any fence that we put up to keep him in our back yard. aaron was constantly fixing the places in the fence where dodger had found that he could manipulate in a way that would enable him to escape into freedom. dodger would take off to visit everyone and anyone who was interested in paying attention to him. he loved anyone who favored him at all. we had a tag made for his collar that had his name and phone number on it for those times when someone who noticed him might be able to call and let us know where he was. we received hundreds of calls in his lifetime. a couple of them were from the dog pound. many of the times that we were called, the people who had him saved him from being hit on the highway. dodger had no fear of cars on the road. he thought he had as much right to be there as any car did. so, for his safety, aaron continued to fix every place in the fence that dodger seemed to mastermind. even up to a couple of months ago he still made a short escape. his love for freedom was never stifled only prevented by a fence.

i woke up this morning and looked out the sliding glass door to see at the back of our yard a wooden cross that aaron had pounded into the ground in front of the pile of dirt that covered where we buried dodger. i immediately felt sadness all over again. it brought back the vivid memories from the night before when we had watched aaron lower dodger into the ground. later that day, i ventured out there to look a little closer and noticed this...

aaron had put dodger's collar around the cross with the words that said, "no more fences." that is all it took to make tears quickly stream down my face. in my mind, i could see him "free." there are no more fences to confine his desire to greet and meet. run, dodger, run! you are free now! no more fences!