Narnia

One of Joan's pugs -- Narnia/Sweet Pea -- who was returned to Joan when her owner could no longer care for her -- has lost the use of her legs, just like my pug Vader did. Unlike Vader, she likes to squirm and move and get herself trapped in all sorts of strange places, so Joan pretty much has to take her with us everywhere. Sweet Pea, as her owner called her, or Narnia, as we first named her, came back to Joan because her owner Nancy had an ill father. Traveling back and forth to Florida to care for him was not fair to Sweet Pea, so Nancy gave her back to Joan. She has missed her ever since. Narnia was born on my lap 10 years ago and stayed at Joan's for many years before going to live with Nancy. As a result, I have always had a fondness for her. When I hear Nancy talk about her my heart almost breaks. There is such affection in her stories. I contacted Nancy via email the other day because I wanted to know more about Narnia's time with her. I thought I might write about it. She told me how she named Narnia after a can of antique wrinkled sweet peas and how she misses her still. Narnia is tiny and frail in body but her mind is active, her spirit downright feisty. Nancy's one request when she surrendered her was that we not tell her when she dies. "It will break my heart," she says. She wrote that she hates to think of Narnia's legs. She remembers how much she hated the cold and how she wouldn't put all four paws on the ground at once. "It makes me sad to write of her," she said. "She is a dear little bundle of black love and I miss her all the time.

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