Tyson's travels

I’ve never cried when saying goodbye to anyone.  I didn’t cry when I bid my childhood friends goodbye en route to college. I didn’t cry when I said goodbye to my co-counsellor camp friends in Colorado after a memorable summer together.  I didn’t even cry when I said goodbye to my family when I moved to South Africa for an indefinite length of time.  But when I said goodbye to a silly cocker spaniel two weeks ago I cried like a baby.  We’re talking ugly crying, gasping for breath.

And so begins our move to the US.  And Tyson is leading the way for us.  I was surprised by how emotional I was about sending him off.  In the week leading up to his journey, I couldn’t look at him without getting teary.  The thought of him being stuck in a crate for a 16 hour flight horrified me.  I was worried that something would go wrong and I wouldn’t be able to help him. Or he would get lost during the layover in Johannesburg. Or he would think I’d abandoned him. Or he would never recover from the trauma of the trip. 

But I think it was more than just worrying about his trip. All of my uncertainty and emotions about moving to the US were channelled into this loveable little cocker spaniel.  Langa and I are about to embark on an exciting new adventure in our lives, but it’s also a very scary adventure as well. After living in South Africa for 6 years, moving back to the US will sort of be like moving to a foreign country for me. Langa and I will both experience culture shock and will have to adapt to different accents, different cultures, different music, different food, different ways of doing things, etc.  Add to that the fact that we are still not sure about employment or about where we’ll live.  AND we’re saying goodbye to some amazing people here.  It’s all a lot to handle.  And so I bawled as the pet travel agent drove away with Tyson-in-a-crate in the back of his truck.  Saying goodbye to Tyson felt like the beginning of many hard goodbyes.  It was also the beginning of saying goodbye to a life that I’ve come to love very much here in Durban.

The good news is that Tyson survived the flight without incident, and is now happily enjoying himself with my parents in Rochester.  The puppy that has always lived in an apartment finally has a yard to explore.  He has a constant buddy in my parent’s dog Tobey. And he has discovered that deer are even more fun to chase than birds. 

Tyson has created a good path for us.  He never asked where he was going or who would meet him at the airport. He didn’t care who was going to feed him.  He didn’t fret over the fact that he would never set his paws in the Indian Ocean again.  Hopefully Langa and I will also face our uncertain journey with the same unquestioning faith and enthusiasm in a couple short weeks.