This is Sheriff Peanut Butter Brickle.  I have a confession, and I am usually not the one confessing.  But I don’t know everything.  And every place that we have visited on this Adventure Of A Lifetime has been a teacher. It has either taught us something about ourselves, something about the earth, something about people, or it has taught us that I am still the most handsome dog around. You probably already knew that though.

Last evening, we decided to take a drive to a place in Washington called Mount St. Helens.  I did not know much about it, only that it was a volcano, and that in 1980, which is like a million dog years ago, it erupted.

It is hard to imagine this happened.  Lives were lost, destruction was beyond words, and the area went dark, even at noon. The volcanic ash cloud literally circled the earth.

Now.  If we would have not went on this trip, I might have heard of Mt. St. Helens.  Or watched about it on TV although we don’t have a TV. Not the point. But seeing it in person?  It wasn’t what we pictured, or what we thought.  After almost 40 years, life has started to come back.  But the sleeping volcano is ominous.  Yes, I know that word.  I learned it yesterday too.

As we were marveling at the beauty, and the fallen trees still all along the landscape, we said no words.  But Girl Person was thinking as usual, and I always know what she is thinking. It’s my job.

Just that morning, Girl Person was sad.  She was looking into my eyes and saw some spots…something she called old age spots.  She saw the grey in my fur.  She saw Deputy Digby’s white hair.  And she remarked to Boy Person in a whisper that life wasn’t fair.  She told him that she didn’t want to see us get any older.  She said that she knew we were slower than a year ago, older than a year ago.  And Boy Person said he was noticing too.

Boy Person said that what they could do was make every single day for us enjoyable, to do the things we wanted to do, the things that made us happy.  And I agreed.  But seriously.  George Clooney has always been my competition for Sexiest Man Alive and he is grey.  So what’s the issue here?  At eight years old, both me AND Digby should have already received this title.  Well, I should have. Digby should have won smelliest dog alive.

Mount St. Helens is a place of beauty now, and it was a place of beauty before May 18, 1980.

And by visiting Mount St. Helens, Girl Person said that one thing is for certain.  The landscape today wasn’t the same as it was yesterday.  And the landscape will be different tomorrow.  Time changes many things, including adding a few grey hairs and old age spots.  It also makes me handsomer, but again, not the point.

Girl Person said she would have never thought that nature could teach us so much about our own lives.  Today isn’t the same as yesterday, because hopefully, we learned something.  And will it make our tomorrow count?  If you have a furkid that you love so much, will you realize today is special because you are together?  If you have family with two legs, will you tell them today that they are special?  Will you understand that one day, one minute, one second may change everything?

Things will change.  Change is one of the only things guaranteed in life.  So take today and make it count, learn from yesterday, and make tomorrow great. Love the ones your with, whether they have two legs or four, are old or young.  If you have to rebuild, Mount St. Helens also teaches us that is is possible with new life, new flowers, new beauty.  You may never forget what happened.  You can’t.  You can learn from it and gain appreciation.

Just like the trees at Mount St. Helens that were toppled down, you may feel worn down too.  And I will admit, Digby and I are starting to feel a little older.

But.  With age, comes appreciation.  And some things? Well, like me, they get better with age.  And my landscape today and tomorrow and the next day will be to make it count, to learn from the past and keep on going!

So today fans, we are on our way to Seattle!  Are you with us?  Let’s do this!

-Sheriff Peanut Butter Brickle

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