I lost a member of the family last month. Well, OK, she wasn’t an actual family member. Emily, as most of you know, had four legs. And, yes, she did occasionally eat off the floor (OK…more than occasionally!). But to Mitch and I, she was very much a member of our family.
Emily died last month at the ripe old age of 16 ½… but not before making her mark around our office.
She had a title – Official Office Greeter/Office Manager – and she carried out her duties with style and dedication. Whenever anyone walked in, she was always there with a lick and a wag (and, OK, sometimes a begging look for a treat…any treat). She dutifully sat in on hundreds of meetings. She was a regular contributor to our newsletter on again issues…and – although she was our only employee who had to go outside to go to the bathroom – she was as much a fixture here as anyone who’s passed through this office over the years.
My son Danny summed it up rather succinctly.
Emily was the first and only dog to ever serve as Office Manager in a law practice,” he said. “And I’m pretty sure she was the only Office Manager who ever went looking for food in a trash basket.
Emily had a way of boiling the complex down to the simple. A doggie treat, a full water bowl, and a good belly-rub, and she was a happy camper. She demanded very little, and was always in a good mood (especially when someone in the meeting room accidentally dropped food on the floor).
Us pet owners are very much aware when our pets can no longer do the things that used to give them (and us) such pleasure. But even in her dotage, Emily was fun to be around, and happy to be around people.
Things will never be quite the same around here, especially when we realize that, from now on, we’re actually going to have to vacuum when someone drops crumbs on the floor.
