One of our only family photos, with us all.
Xela was put to sleep the day after Mother's Day, 2010. Xela's name is Guatemalan. Named after the municipality of Xela, also known as Quetzaltenago. Xelaju for short. She was to be a wise, 17 human years this July, approximately or so. Xela was LOYAL companion to Taylor, Isla's amazing "Da Dee," for the majority of those years. So as you can see, he was a father well before he was a "Da Dee," which is why he is so damn good. Her passing was sad beyond words. I am only thankful that her deterioration in health was quick and that Isla had almost a year with Xela. Xela was even around to see Isla walk on her 10 month birthday. A year ago this month (May) is when our friends Heather & Jon lost their sweet dog Wina, who was one of the few older female dogs that Xela let go of a bit of her alpha-ness around. (Her elder cousin dog Sophie is another.) Xela certainly understood respect and was such a regal, proper gal when it came to dog etiquette (mostly, although she hated German Shepards, with good reason/bad experience.) Now other animals, that was another story. Must I name the animals she loved... to chase, cats, squirrels, even deer. She was not at all afraid. Have you heard the jumping out a car window story? After a day of rock climbing in NC, Xela jumped right out the window of our moving car to chase a deer. Who won you ask? The deer, as Xela ran/fell right into a tree. No worries, she shook it off, no big deal. I like to think that Xela and Wina are running together somewhere, chasing squirrels, and maybe even a few deer.
What a sad weekend we had when we realized this was likely the end of her life. She was such an amazing dog, sort of legend in her own time. With Aretha Franklin's voice, as determined by Taylor, and with the energy of a puppy even at sixteen human years of age, she trained Nico to follow in her ways, when in 2008 we wreaked havoc on her only-dog life with a new puppy addition to the family. In 2009, with another new addition to the family, Xela met beautiful baby girl, Ms. Isla Bean. And while Xela was not necessarily a fan of children, these undirected, unstable, charging small people, with waving appendages, and an unreliable use of words, she was especially unfamiliar with babies. Yet, she was ever the protective matriarch when Isla came home with us from the hospital. Laying at my feet wherever I was holding, nursing, nursing, or nursing Isla. Xela was immediately alert and concerned when Isla cried, and subtly more aggressive with newcomers to our home in the days following her arrival. She had extended her pack, without words, without question.
The Taylor and Xela connection was long and strong. Xela, a North Carolinian mind you, was with Taylor since she was about a year and half old. She was a rescue dog and wild as they come. She was also a mother to a litter of pups, part her amazing mutt mix and part Rottweiler (odd I know- she was once a woman of the night...) Back in NC, Isla's Grams was always mentioning to me, "If you think Xela is wild now, you should have seen her back when she was young." Chasing bikers, skateboarders, men in uniform, a strong alpha with a HUGE desire to run, and fast. Amazingly, she was playful until the final weeks of her life. She would have long rambunctious bouts of puppy-time-wrestling with Nico just a few years ago.
I have always reminded others that Xela was "Pre-G," as in, around even before me, in Taylor's life. In 2001, she warmly accepted me, very quickly I might add, into her pack and her home. Without much hesitation, even with the briskness with which our relationship progressed, she was soon very loyal to me as well.
In 2002 she moved with us from her native North Carolina where she explored the leave worn trails of Duke Forest (sometimes with too much independence), ran with us on the high school's dirt running paths, surveyed the UNC campus green spaces with love and determination, and kept us always feeling very secure on busy Church Street, to the West Coast. She accompanied Taylor cross country on the move to the brisk weathered, Bay Area in the summer of 2002. There she enjoyed some amazing sites, including windy, wild Kehoe Beach on Point Reyes Peninsula, running the hills of North Berkeley, the greens and browns of Tilden Park, and the amazing East Bay dog park with bridges to cross, water to swim and an ocean view. She made some actual doggie friends running leash-less at our local haunt, Codornices Park. There she fell in love with Spike, and for several years they ran together. With a more urban move a year or so into our Bay Area time, and a wedding under our belt, she explored the water and paths of Aquatic Park, and most notably our small rectangular backyard free for her to lounge and take in the California sun and sweet smells, oh that jasmine...
With another cross country move in 2006, this one for grad school, she headed with us east, where she got a real taste of the cold of winter. She also came to love the freedom of going out of the house leashless, on a regular basis thanks to our Orange Street abode's shared lawn. As I mentioned, it was here that she further expanded her pack taking in puppy Nico, and then on June 20, 2009, Isla Grace. More recently she mothered, in her tough love kind of way, Alex & Annelle's itty bitty puppy, Lucha. While in CT, Xela threw sticks (remarkably) for herself to catch, here at East Rock Park, which became her new favorite spot for running free. Running free was how she liked it best, next most she loved laying in the sun, and after this I would say, nose out the moving car window, eyes half mast. She was a dog after all.
There is so much I am not saying, of course, especially all the amazing time The Boy And His Dog shared before me (Pre-G). Novels worth.
Xela was the selling point that sealed the deal of my, casual, first date invite from Taylor, when he asked me at 411 West, in Chapel Hill, on a lovely spring afternoon, to go for a walk (wait for it)... with his dog.
See: Gina does a double-take.
Hear: "You have a dog."
See: Taylor nodding proudly.
Hear: LOVE.
The rest is history, as is life.
As I mentioned to Taylor last month when we acknowledged that it was Xela's time to leave us,
"You and me and Xela. That's how it all began. On a walk that never ended."
-with a note of apology to all those who loved and cared for Xela, who I do not have a photo included of- I only have post-digital age photos accessible at this time, so many, many who loved Xela, for more years than myself even, are missing from this photo selection such as her Grams & Grampa, Will, Jason, Grundy dog, the Warhuus family (the Food Lady), Heather, Jon & Winna Kidde, and all those, like I said, pre-G. May she rest in peace.
