Her name was Eileen Mabee. She was only 35 years old.
I've
often mused about what made Eileen so special. Her buck-toothed grin
stood out in my mind. It sure was the
first thing that I noticed about her as she strode forward to greet me and meet
me for the very first time, three years ago at Scottsdale Farm in Georgetown. The next thought was about the funky hat
she was wearing. One of the many in her
rather limited wardrobe. The other
aspects of her rather atrocious attire were but a fleeting observation, as it
was abundantly clear that Eileen didn’t fuss about what covered her outside and the dogs
didn’t care. Never a truer statement
was made about the wardrobe making the man and Eileen’s made her.
I
came to realize that Eileen was truly a self-made woman and absolutely totally
unaware of how she came to be. She just
was. She was a bottomless well of giving
and dog treats. Never mind how the rent
would get paid, and the aging vehicle kept running. Dog treats were the order of the day and she
always seemed to have an endless supply in the back of the well-used sky blue
van, which, in the end, was the vehicle of her demise.
That
first time I met her at Scottsdale, was my second hike with the Muttley Crew group.
It was a rather chilly, gloomy, late February Sunday morning. As I drove there to meet Eileen and what
turned out to be the only other member there, Alexia, with her two children and
of course, pooch, Daisy, who fast developed a huge doggie-style crush on Sofie.
Poor Sofie. Every time she stopped, even
for the briefest of moments, Daisy was right behind her, literally with her
nose up Sofie’s butt. It’s just a dog
thing. I had to smile when I witnessed
Daisy’s obsession and remembered a story line from a TV show called Allie
McBeal. The show was about a law firm
and how Allie (Calista Flockhart in real life) bent over and sniffed her
friend’s butt. She knew immediately that
he, (now a lawyer), was her soul mate.
They were around 6 or7 years old at the time and the childhood crush endured
well into their adulthood. She must have
had the nose of a hound. Anyhoo off
track again…
It
turned out to be a good day for a trek in the forest, albeit treacherous. The path we were on was well-worn and the
deep ruts crusted with camouflaged ice, which became luge chutes for the
unwary. I had first-hand experience of
riding a chute while attempting to climb up a rather steep part of the trail, when
my feet lost the traction challenge.
Down I went, face first, with a
bone-cracking thump. Very ungracefully I
shot down the arduous ten feet or so I had managed to scale with the help of
exposed tree roots and spindly brush. Nothing was broken but my right elbow took the
brunt of my memorable fall and still aches today on damp winter days.
Eileen
would have walked all day but saw that the whoomph had been knocked out of me
and asked if we wanted to start back.
Alexis’ kids had been flagging a bit and between that and the
now-battered and bruised me, we did turn around and start making our way back
to our starting point. It was just as
hard a slog back, as it had been getting there but the warmth of friendship and
camaraderie made it all worth-while.
Eileen
was at all the subsequent hikes that Sofie and I attended and she made a
special effort to ensure that we were always able to go, even if we had been
wait-listed. As the owner and organizer
of Muttley Crew she had pull and used it when it suited her. I’m glad.
Sofie and I had some never-to-be-forgotten hikes and another winter one
sticks in my memory. I spent most of
that one at the back of the pack, keeping company with Eileen’s mom,
Diane. I think we were the two most
‘mature’ members of the group on that hike.
Getting to know Diane that day and on a few other hikes, made me realize
that the apple didn’t fall far from the tree and I figured out where Eileen got
her strong sense of family from and love of dogs and treasured friendships and
….
Forever remembered.
