Numerology

10 years ago

I used to think nothing could predict the future, now I’m not so sure. Suddenly I find myself thinking a lot about the coincidence of numbers. I looked it up and found there is a pseudoscience called Numerology of which I know nothing about but unless I’m about to relive an old experience that gave me great joy I’m willing to suspend doubt for the time being. Fasten your seat belts and enjoy the ride.

In chronological order the events line up this way.

Ten years ago I had a 2-year old Rottweiler named Ruffin who was the biggest bundle of love and energy and all the flat out handsomeness you could ever ask for.

Ten years ago a dear friend offered me a chance to adopt an almost 8-year old Rottweiler named Axl who was the most gentle, lovable animal I have ever met.  I jumped at the offer. We brought Axl to his forever home in August 2009.

Ten years ago my BFF Ruffin became best friends with the old Rottweiler Axl. They enjoyed their days together playing and chasing each other around our backyard.

Ten years ago we had two Rottweilers, Ruffin who was 2-years old and Sassy, a Rottie girl who was 6.

Axl lived to be 16 and died in January 2017.

Ruffin lived to be 12 and died in September 2018. In those 12 years I never felt such a close relationship with any dog before as I did with Ruff. He was so much more than just my Best Friend Forever, he was my closest companion. During the tragic and stressful years caring for my dying wife Ruff was my rock, he was my battery charger, he helped make the sadness easier to live with.  I used to tell him every day how much I needed him and he would listen to me so attentively I just knew he understood. I will leave it up to speculation whether anyone else was listening.

My wife Jacqueline passed away the year before Ruffin.

I am still a little bewildered at how quickly things developed so soon after Ruffin died. Within a week I was told a 15-month old male Rottweiler (who looked a lot like my boy Ruff at that age) was available for adoption up in Ohio, about a hundred miles away. I convinced the rescue group to let me adopt him. I named him Griffin and the full impact of this event didn’t come to my attention until I was informed later that he had been surrendered to the rescue group for adoption the day before Ruffin died.

While my head is still spinning over how quickly Ruffin’s replacement came into my life I am also becoming aware of an odd feeling of Déjà vu. 10-years ago we had Ruffin, and we had Sassy, this year, 2019, we also have two Rottweilers, Griffin, who is 2-years old and Bessie who will be 5-years old on July 1^st. Almost the same identical mix as before.

Now Griffin, and yes, his name does sound like Ruffin, is just as much a bundle of energy as Ruff was at the same age. Griffin loves to run and play and burn off his unbounded energy every day and sometimes that is too rough to do with our Rottie girl Bessie. Seems like I recall that same situation with Ruffin and Sassy. There is another similarity, both Sassy and Bessie had injured their ACL's which limited their activity.

So what does the future hold? I am waiting for the phone call offering me an older male Rottweiler for adoption, one who will run and play with Griffin. Somehow this would not surprise me at all.

Over the past 25 years I have always noted that in our house the best arrangement we ever had were three Rottweilers, one girl and two boys. The girls were always in charge and Bessie’s future was seemingly planned when I got her 5 years ago and Ruffin raised her. The joke was he was training her to be a Warrior Queen.