I took my boys to Las Vegas a bit over a week ago. One of my books is “Mere Creativity: And also some Circus Skills.” I took clowning classes aeons ago (20 years ago!) and was a vaudeville style entertainer (I never felt myself worthy of being an actual clown) on stages for many many years.
Almost 20 years ago, I went to Las Vegas and saw the Cirque du Soleil shows: KA, O, and Zumanity. I also wanted to see the new show “LOVE,” but didn’t have time in that trip to see it.
Coming out of the KA theater, I said, “when my boys turn 18, I want to take them to see this show.”
My younger son turned 18 in August of this year, and I took them the following week!
I lost track of how many Cirque du Soleil shows I have seen. I have easily seen over 20 of them. “KA” is my very favorite resident show. (Resident show means it doesn’t travel around in a tent; but rather it has its own personalized theater.)
It was one of the happiest moments in my whole life, to sit there in the KA theater, sandwiched between my two boys, watching KA with them.
They left, as in awe of the show, as I was, almost 20 years ago. I loved that moment. It will remain one of my happiest moments and achievements in my life - taking my kids to Las Vegas, to see KA.
We did many other cool things while we were there, too!
I got up on the “America’s Got Talent” stage and played violin. It was a showcase show, not a taping. So after I did my part to help warm up the audience, we got to see many acts that were amazing on that TV show, including my favorite - the glowing dancers!!
We also saw Terry Fator, an amazing ventriloquist who won the show one year, Blue Man Group, O, and Absinthe. So interesting to see so many shows. We also went to the Mandalay Bay aquarium and to Area 15 (think Area 51, but also not). Those were definitely interesting, too. I used to take my son to the Baltimore, Maryland Aquarium regularly. (More than once a year.) He spent hours and hours there, each visit, soaking in all of the sights and learning opportunities. Mandalay Bay Aquarium says it’s one of the largest aquariums in North America. It doesn’t hold a candle to the Baltimore Aquarium. It was still interesting to go to, and I’m glad I got to take my boys there, too.
I also splurged and got us a Fountain-view room at The Bellagio. We spent so much time watching the fountain dance to music. You can watch TV Channel 22 in your room at The Bellagio, and hear the music that the fountain is dancing to. I took so many videos of the dancing fountain.
I loved the daily, “Singin’ in the Rain” dance. That was, of course, one of my dad’s favorite movies. It made me feel so happy to see the fountain dance to that song every day.
The trip was super expensive, and I’m paying for it out of my retirement, but sometimes that’s what life is about - doing the fun things and making the amazing memories so we have them to hold on to when our health is bad and we can’t do anything else.
While we were in Las Vegas, the pet spa that was keeping my dogs called me several times to tell me that my dog, Sparky, wasn’t eating. He goes through phases where he doesn’t eat. I think his tummy gets upset.
With my permission and their fear, they transferred both of my dogs to a vet for full time observation. They got 4 walks per day and lots of attention and care.
Sparky perked up and the vet said he was fine. Sparky did, however, lose one of his big canine teeth while he was there. They called to let me know and even sent the tooth home to me with him.
When we all got home, Sparky was very happy to see us.
His legs were giving out, though, after a very long time of luxating patellas. (His joints wobbling when he walked.) he started to slip and slide when he was walking, and his legs just collapsing underneath himself too.
He stopped eating. And when we could entice him to eat, he vomited all of it.
I adopted Sparky almost 2 years ago from a shelter. He’d been found wandering the streets of Northern Virginia. My own Bella, a well-bred Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, had died very suddenly from an infection she may have gotten when I took her canoeing and our boat capsized in the Shenandoah River. I was in such deep grief over Bella that I couldn’t breathe.
I was so grateful to get Jasper the next month from a shelter in Texas, and then Sparky came up wandering the streets, and I just had to have him, because he looked so much like Bella. I couldn’t help myself.
Also, I hadn’t been able to take care of an aging dog with Bella. She wasn’t even 4 when she died. And I wanted the opportunity to know that death was coming, and take care of a dog who was getting older. I felt like I had been denied that opportunity.
So I was able to adopt Sparky in December of 2021. I don’t know his background, but when I got him, he’d been in foster care for a few months. His fur didn’t look or feel good. He wasn’t particularly friendly like his breed is. He was stand-offish and aloof. He wasn’t particularly fond of being petted. (One of his breed’s trademarks is they love to spend hours and hours in their mom’s lap and just be petted and petted. Sparky would have none of that.)
Earlier this year, in the spring, suddenly it was like a “switch” went off in Sparky’s head - he wanted to be in my lap and just be petted. I took full advantage of that and just kept him there as much as he would let me. And it was a lot.
He suddenly loved to be petted and stroked.
It is my great sorrow to let you know that we took Sparky to the emergency room on Saturday, September 2, spent the whole night there, and later in the day on Sunday, September 3, I made the difficult decision to help Sparky cross the Rainbow Bridge.
His body was shutting down and he wouldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep, couldn’t walk or move and he was so weak. He was giving up and done, and in a lot of pain.
My Sparky was a special dog. From the moment I learned of him walking the streets, I knew he wanted to explore places. I got to have the great privilege of taking him all across the United States - from the East Coast to the West Coast. He saw both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans with me. I wonder if his little dog nose could smell the difference in the two?
I am so glad I got to love him for as long as his little body would let me, and take him to so many places to explore.
He was a good dog and I miss him.
I have made a few different tributes to him on YouTube and TikTok and Facebook reels. They are all different videos. The (horizontal) YouTube one is about 8 minutes long. The other two (both vertical) are much shorter. All are full of cute Sparky pictures and short videos inside.
Sparky’s death made me think of the other loved ones I have lost along the way - my parents, friends, relatives, classmates, other pets.
It makes me think of my own mortality - and how scary things were when I was going through the worst of my heart troubles a few years ago before I had heart surgery.
Even having Sparky in my life for less than 2 years added so much value to me, my heart, my happiness, my joy. It was special to be able to hold him once he discovered that he liked affection. When I got him, I didn’t think I would have him over 1 month or 3 months max. I just wanted to give him a loving experience to end his days with.
As such, I never took moments with him for granted. It filled my heart with love to cherish all the moments I had with him - every day with him was a bonus, and I knew it.
I hope I continue forward, cherishing precious moments with the ones I love, and that I never take them for granted.
Short Sparky video on TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT82mcg8X/
Facebook Reel - https://www.facebook.com/100038944443552/posts/pfbid02djuRL6tAFUpUhRi4iCv9tvfpp7PZU2MZNQjEn7mRzpyuHTWE4oda91LMfZZWtxiSl/
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I wish you a very happy end of the summer!