Goodbye Max, ‘the most social dog,’ and please stay the course

— from Luna, Honorary Mayor of Eastsound —

When we lost Noni and I was asked to finish out her term as honorary mayor of Eastsound, it brought back fond memories of her and my other fellow candidates, Ava, Charlie, and Max

They and their teams ran vigorous campaigns, promoted issues they were concerned about, and exceeded their pledges to raise at least 5K for Children’s House. We all tried to uphold the seriousness of the mayoral race, but being dogs, we couldn’t resist romping with each other as we hustled for votes Saturdays at the Farmers Market.

If I had been elected mayor, my plan was to invite the other candidates to be members of my cabinet. (Is that too grand a term? We could call it our “advisory committee.”) With only two months in my term and no way to meet “in person,” as you call it (most of us canines are not adept at Zoom), I invited Ava, Charlie, and Max to contribute to these columns.

In response to that invitation, I got a second piece of sad news. Max, the other dachshund in the race (along with Noni), died of cancer in April, at age 11. Max’s humans were James (“Duff”) and Linda Duffield. Duff said Max “loved coming to the Farmers Market to meet old friends and make new ones. He probably loved people more than other dogs — the most social dog I’ve ever had.” I loved Max, and I know I speak for Ava and Charlie as well in extending condolences to Linda and Duff.

I walk and run a lot in the area around Grindstone Harbor, where keeping social distance is relatively easy, and I’m tired out enough to enjoy sleeping or just lying down and keeping watch out the window. But my humans are getting restless about sheltering in place, as are the humans they socialize with on Zoom. They want to get out and do stuff together and enjoy each other’s company. But they are resisting that impulse, because they don’t want to get sick or make others sick. When they go to the market or the post office, they mask up and glove up. (Grandpa complains that his cell phone doesn’t recognize his face when he’s wearing his mask.) They sanitize (new word I’ve learned) car and house door handles, light switches, faucet handles, and wash their hands a lot.

It’s hard, but please hang in there so all our work up to this point is not wasted. Together, we will get through this.