Ananda-Miranda was 1 day short of being 15 years old. She was a West Highland Terrier. Her favorite toy was “Mot” a long green squeak toy , Kymodo dragon, and a salamander. Her favorite treats were chicken, beef, and lamb. Favorite thing to do was play, make up games to play, chase rabbits, and snug.
Ananda-Miranda, my West Highland terrier, came to me as 3 and 1/2 pounds of gleeful puppy playfulness–ready to climb on anything, including me, to play with everything (although a cardboard toilet paper roll was her favorite for a while), to love everyone, and to run madly and happily through life. She lived up to her double name, Ananda, “the love without which the universe will fall apart” and Miranda “a wise Black woman character from Gloria Naylor’s novel Mama Day with magical powers of healing, courage, and strength. She topped out at 11 pounds 12 ounces and snuggled, sniffed, played, ran, and walked with gaiety and wit and amazing amount of character for one so small in size. She made up games to play by herself when humans were not accommodating or when she just wanted to play by herself. She would take her toys and put them up on a chair or stool or her back rest arms, then attack them and growl at them until she knocked them off, ran and terror as they fell, came back and licked them fondly, put them back up and started all over again. She would stand on her head literally, to get all “scuffed up” and with her fur in her eyes and standing on end. She was fully present and loved, unconditionally every minute of her life. Her last day we played with the first toy she had ever had, a long green squeaky toy that looked like a salamander or a Kymodo dragon that she loved for her 14 years and 364 days, until he had lost his squeaky and was gray and dingy then dragged and licked. She showed him and me the same attention and pleasure she had shown on the first day she had had him. And so it was with us -everyday we spent together was a joy.
Rest in Peace
