Yasashiikuma

Christopher Charles Shaw – 2/20/64 – 10/17/08

If I could have a lifetime wish
a dream that would come true
I’d pray to God with all my heart
for yesterday and you.

A thousand words can’t bring you back
I know because I’ve tried
And neither will a million tears
I know because I’ve cried.

You left behind my broken heart
and happy memories too
I never wanted memories…
I only wanted you.

Love you,
S.

to where you are – Josh Groban

It looks like Chris has decided that I’m not quite ready to do without him. Today I went shopping with a dragonfly. For anyone who is a new reader to the blog you should read the posts here and here and here to underestand the significance.

Once again the gardens have been stripped of the excess growth, and unfortunately a large number of the perennials that had not yet identified themselves clearly. So I had to go shopping to buy replacements, and some annuals to add some colour to the garden.

I went to the Walmart garden centre down in Orangeville, and as I was looking at a plant trying to decide if I wanted it – a small dragonfly landed on it and looked right at me. It only lighted for a second and then hovered over to a slightly healthier pot of the same plant. So I picked it up instead.

This happened during my entire shopping trip. This dragonfly stayed with me, hovering from plant to plant drawing my attention to a few I hadn’t even considered.

I think I have a screw that is working itself loose, but these are Chris’ (or the dragonfly’s) choices for the garden this year

This is my second Dragonfly encounter this week. On Tuesday I had to go down to Toronto for a job interview. Having to drive in Toronto traffic, as well as getting stuck in a construction zone, made me a little rattled, since instead of having 45 minutes till my interview I was down to 10 and I still needed to park and figure out where the offices were. I finally found a parking spot, and a dragonfly landed on my windshield. It hovered up and down a few times, and when I got out of the truck, it came within 3 inches of my face – and then flew off.

If it was meant to calm me, it did. If it was a dragonfly version of a goodluck kiss, it worked. More next week.

….dreams really do come true! Murphy has run out of steam, and Lady Luck has taken his place. Dolly (above) won the Open Bitch class this morning, and Winners Bitch this afternoon under Jonathon Kimes, the same judge who gave her father Best of Winners at the 1998 American Nationals.

This has been an absolutely amzaing show, for me despite Murphy’s attempts to throw me off track.

After our late start on Sunday and torrential rains on Monday, and realizing I had not brought ANY clothes to show in (my garment bag was left hanging on the closet door), Murphy seems to have used up most of his bag of tricks.

A trip to Goodwill and Sears netted me 6 show outfits for about $150 including a ruffled “tuxedo” type shirt formal enough for the Megan.

Tuesday in the Megan, Dolly made the preliminary cut in the brindle bitches, under judges Peter Clifton and Mandy Bossi.

Wednesday was Puppy and Veteran Sweepstakes. The only placements in Puppy Sweepstakes that were important to us, were the 2nd and 3rd places earned by Hunter’s sons Chase and Pilot in the 12-18 month old male class. Then Hunter won the 11 years and over Male Veterans class, and Carolyn’s girl Alice won the 7 to 9 year Veteran female class, but neither of them won Best in Veteran Sweeps.

Thursday morning was the boys – and Pilot won a 4th in Bred-by-Exhibitor Dog. Chip won a 3rd place in the Open Dog class. Then Hunter and Alice once again won their respective Veterans classes AND Stud Dog and Brood Bitch class.

Today has been a phenomenal day. Libby went 2nd in her 12-18 month old class with Carolyn handling her.

Then Dolly was in the Open Bitch class which to my utter shock and surprise she won!

By this time I was totally flabbergasted, I didn’t expect that at all.

The show then broke for lunch while the Parade of Titleholders went on. The entire crowd had very wet eyes, as Don Glenn carried Maggie (Am/Cdn Ch. Kingsbury’s Carbon Copy) around the ring – 17 years old, and the top winning Cardigan ever in the breed. She seemed to be able to hear all of the thundering applause and Don put her down to walk a few steps and “bait” for the crowd. It was like her old glory days came back to her when she realized all of the attention was about her

During the lunch break I asked Carolyn what we could do to make Dolly’s bib look a little less like an unmade bed. Next thing I knew Carolyn had her outside in the bathtub, and washed all of the accumulated stuff out of her coat. She then managed to fluff her out and make her gorgeous just using a blow dryer. She looked fantastic. Dolly says, “Thanks Auntie Carolyn for the blow job!”

We went back in for Winners Bitch after lunch. I was very nervous – this was a really tough class, and the goal of 20 years involvement in Cardigans – to go Winners with a dog I bred at the National.

Jon made our dream come true – Dolly went Winners Bitch, not only taking a 5 point major herself, but we also think she completed her fathers Register of Merit qualifications with this win.

The only negative was, Chris should have been here. His photo has been on Chip’s crate all week. I hope he’s gotten to see how well his kids have done for him.

I also have to thank Carolyn and Penni for all that they contributed to making this win possible. They have helped walking dogs, grooming dogs, watering dogs and kept my head on straight during every meltdown this week.

Chip – if anyone saw him before Chris died you would have seen this – used to “talk”. He and Chris would hold entire conversations – and some of the noises he made came out like actual words. If Chris asked him “What do you want?” he would sometimes made a noise that sounded like “I don’t know”. Since Chris died, Chip has not talked….until Tuesday. Out of the blue, Chip has begun talking again. Maybe he feels happy being back in the show ring, maybe he was also just mourning his Daddy. But when he started, I started crying…..it was a momentous moment, one of the first of the many I’ve had this week.

Our “Rainbow Canopy” is now sporting a rainbow of ribbons. Myself, I’m particulary proud of that honking huge purple one!

Most of you who had the opportunity to meet Chris, knew him for his sense of humour and his dedication to our friends. Most of you never really knew of his scholastic capabilities.

Chris was a child prodigy, entering high school at 10 years of age. While he excelled in almost every subject, his real strenghts were mathematics and computers. Part of his memorial in the UTS Alumnus magazine reads:

A UTS graduate, Class of 1980, Chris’s remarkable talents began to show at the age of two: he learned the alphabet in two days, followed by phonics in a week, and was reading by age three. At age six, he could multiply up to eight-digit numbers in his head in a very short time, and had the distinction of beating a Grand Master Chess champion who was playing about 20 games at the same time.

Chris accepted the Rene Descartes scholarship award from University of Waterloo; after two years, he left university to earn a living doing computer programming.

Chris classmates have decided to create a Scholarship in Computer Sciences and Mathematics in his name at the school. It will be a perpetual endowment. If you are interested in more information I have summarized the information I received at www.ChristopherShaw.com