Mango: Approximately 2007-March 18, 2024
What do you say when you say goodbye to a companion who inspired you during some of the most formative moments of the last decade of your life? "Goodbye Mango. You were a good girl, and I will miss you." But that doesn't feel like enough. Let me share just a few of our highlights of the past decade-plus together.
Mango the Seminarian
Mango joined our pack when I was midway through seminary. She was by my side and hovering over me (literally, she was on my shoulder) during the drafting of many papers and sermons. When I had a shoulder surgery that went awry, she was my constant companion while I recuperated and drafted assignments with dictation software.
Pastor Mango
Exactly 10 years ago today, I submitted my ordination paper to the denomination's review committee. Mango escaped with me to a "secret location" where I sequestered myself for several days to crank out the volumes of pages needed to complete my requirements. Following acceptance of my paper, Mango accompanied me to my first call, living in a rooming house with her sister Kiwi, so that I didn't have to start my ministry alone. When I was ordained, Mango was there for the event, sporting a handmade crocheted alb and joining Supportive Spouse while he read a psalm proclaiming the wonder of creation. Mango also attended several worship services over the years, serving as the example of resurrection at Easter services and animal blessings.
Chaplain Mango
During the pandemic, when many of my pastoral visits occurred virtually, Mango took up the challenge and started participating in video visits with patients and their families. Oftentimes, care recipients would tell Mango things they hadn't said to me alone. My spiritual assessment tool I used with my patients was made up of the acronym from her name, a daily reminder of the connectedness of others and being rooted in something other than ourselves.
Mango the Friend
Over the years, Mango made countless visits to my parents, warming up slowly to my dad, a longtime lover of dogs, who's abilities had diminished over time, but he would always perk up and launch into story-telling, while stroking Mango's ear. Mango even won over my mom, who is more discerning. Throughout the past few years, Mango spent many hours snuggled up on mom's lap, while the two of them napped the afternoons away.
Mango the Attitude
I'd be remiss if I didn't get real for a moment and say that while Mango had many wonderful attributes, she was also a supreme pain in the butt with an outsized attitude and a stubborn streak surprisingly large for such a small creature. An accomplished escape artist, she was able to dig a hole under a fence and run more than a mile from home in a matter of a few minutes. For years, Mango sported a GPS collar that was nearly as large as her head. Not that it kept her home, but I was able to better track how far afield she had run. Once, she got as far as a middle school almost 2 miles from our home and back before I could manage more than a few blocks with an empty leash in my hands.
Mango the Inspiration
Probably the greatest gift Mango gave me was as an inspiration. She didn't just have a spiritual
transformation from the time she came to us as an emotionally wounded young dog. She physically changed appearance. In our earliest photos, Mango's ears were slack and her posture was submissive, her shoulders hunched and flinching at the smallest of movements. She would be frozen in obedience classes, too overwhelmed to absorb the lessons (it took her 6 months to feel comfortable enough around us to lay down). Yet after we told her for enough months that she was wonderful, she came to believe it herself - a spark lit in her eyes and her ears became pointed and erect. She carried herself with a confidence that couldn't have been imagined in those early months. The turning point seemed to have been when she had an expanding pellet surgically removed some months after joining our home. After we learned she had been shot, her reactions to loud noises made more sense. One of the happiest days with her was the afternoon I came home from work and Mango ran to the bed and rolled over for a belly rub. The amount of confidence, combined with vulnerability, in that gesture brought me to tears.
transformation from the time she came to us as an emotionally wounded young dog. She physically changed appearance. In our earliest photos, Mango's ears were slack and her posture was submissive, her shoulders hunched and flinching at the smallest of movements. She would be frozen in obedience classes, too overwhelmed to absorb the lessons (it took her 6 months to feel comfortable enough around us to lay down). Yet after we told her for enough months that she was wonderful, she came to believe it herself - a spark lit in her eyes and her ears became pointed and erect. She carried herself with a confidence that couldn't have been imagined in those early months. The turning point seemed to have been when she had an expanding pellet surgically removed some months after joining our home. After we learned she had been shot, her reactions to loud noises made more sense. One of the happiest days with her was the afternoon I came home from work and Mango ran to the bed and rolled over for a belly rub. The amount of confidence, combined with vulnerability, in that gesture brought me to tears.
Mango Forever
I cannot begin to capture what Mango meant to me in these words, nor do I expect anyone to get much out of my writing, but I am compelled to memorialize the girl who was so important in my life, as I suspect I was for her. She will forever be a part of my being. I will love Mango forever.
