Sincerely Miles

For our last class Cat had asked us to bring an item of importance with us. I brought a card given to me as a silly and kind gesture. Cat had us write about this item in great detail, focusing on our senses and trying to paint a picture. This is my piece, unedited and as is.

I look up from my half finished press release and the inappropriately large bag of organic gummy bears in lap and I see something that makes me smile. It’s a card, petite and plain at first glance, but it means the world to me.

This card, with its marble white background holds the simple image of a striking blue jay. He looks thoughtful. Sometimes I glance at him and see a serene creature contemplating the world beyond his tree branches. Other times, when the card catches just the corner of my eye, he looks panicked, frightened of what I can’t see that exists beyond the edge of the card.

It is not this bird that compels me to keep this card, nor the fact that is was printed in Martinsburg, though I do have a love for all things “local”.

I hold the delicate paper in my fingers and I hope it to see barely legible, swirling and erratic handwriting that reminds me of my own. It is a thank you note for a small gesture from a man with love in his heart and love for his dog Miles.

This card, with a tiny scribbled in paw print, is bitter sweet to me now. It reminds me of the amazing experience my time working for Jeff was; how lucky I was. It reminds me more though of the great orange beast who would burst through my office door just to say hello and followed me up and down the stairs and I made my afternoon tea.

The card reminds me of all the loss I witnessed as I stood loyal by Jeff’s side, as I do today still in my heart. As his father passed. As Miles grew ill. It was a slow descent, but it broke my heart when he could no longer climb the stairs and even more so when he was diagnosed with cancer.

Miles left us recently and I ached for him, but also for Jeff knowing how this would hurt him. Someone who I would never want to be touched by pain or the ugliness of this world, for he is that kind and that kind of man.

I look at this card and smile. A little joke about need to test the new toys durability. As a golden retriever, he was quite the chewer. The card was signed Sincerely Miles.