One of my favorite movies of all time is Pete's Dragon... like, as in, the Shelly Winters/Helen Reddy/Mickey Rooney 1977 version. I love the remake, too. I have lost and found myself in that story literally hundreds of times since I was a kid. The general message is that we ALL need companionship...someone in our corner...fiercely and steadfastly... especially those of us who often feel (real or imagined) like we're on the fringe. We're stronger together. And sometimes, in order to stand on our own two feet, we really just need a big goofy, trusty dragon to prop us up.
Almost a a decade ago, i brought home a tiny fire-breathing, golden, not-so-retrieving, far from mythical force of nature. I named him Sailor, and he was, from that day on... My companion, my one man entourage, and my most loyal friend. Through the years, i traveled a lot and moved around often. I was generally a little more vulnerable than the stationary (saner) sector of society, and in many ways... Sailor became my big goofy, trusty dragon.
He was an equal part of my tribe. Everywhere we went, we were two instead of one...And that counted for a whole helluva lot when the world around us rarely resembled anyone or anything familiar.
Like glue, he was stuck to me.. though sometimes he probably felt like he was stuck WITH me. Sailor was there when i hiked the Grand Canyon, when i lived on a boat in the freezing winter, and when I pulled our trailer house down the Vegas strip - which is an entire story for another day. 😄
He dipped his webbed-feet in almost every body of water from the Pacific to the Atlantic.. whether or NOT he ever had full permission. He was moral support when i pounded the pavement for odd jobs. He was a constant co-pilot on the open road, the sketchy patches of rural America and the urban alleyways. He taught me how to be a little more selfless and a little less unreliable. He alerted me to danger. He forgave me A LOT. I counted on him to size up the new folks we met along the way. He was precociously unsuspecting, clumsily gentle, freakishly good-natured, a little sassy, innately stubborn, totally unencumbered, and ooooh so lovable... just like Pete's dragon. But he was my dragon.
Today, my friend and firey-furred dragon would have been 10 years old. BUT he grew up, and he grew old in quicker succession than I expected. With him, and largely because of him, I eventually just grew up.... which i'm now pretty sure was the primary purpose of his mission.
I like to think he left because i finally returned to the proverbial lighthouse... that maybe i somehow convinced him i'd followed my own beacon back to the safety of my own harbor and like Pete's dragon.. he delighted in the realization that his services were no longer needed. Though I'm not necessarily sure I've arrived at any lighthouses or harbors lately, that's how the story goes... so it must be true. I also like to think that some other soul needed him more, and that's where he is now.
No matter what, I know his soul will travel infinitely onward. As will mine. As will yours. Because souls do that. AND because we get to create our own reality, I now have my very own fantastic tale of a big, red, furry, terribly stinky, goofy, trusty dragon with a ceaseless soul... who by merely existing... helped me realize a life i only ever imagined were possible before him.
Yes.... A dog who is a dragon can do all of that.
Happy infinite birthday to the goofiest, trustiest soul in the cosmos! Missing you crazy amounts....
"Life is lollipops and rainbows with the one you love. Someone you can always be with... argue and agree with... climb the highest tree with... It's so easy "
