The name "Wali" (waal-LEE) is a transliteration of an Arabic word meaning "protective friend", and that is exactly what Wali has been. He came into our life as a puppy when we lived up on a breezy ridge, high in the Blue Ridge Mountains, well out in those great forests. We were overrun with stray dogs that pillaged our compost, attacked our garden, chased our cat and cowered our other two dogs, who both weighed about eighty-five pounds. Wali put an end to all that in the first month he was with us. By then he was beginning to approach fifteen pounds (on the way to his eventual sixty-one). But he was fearless. And fast. And loud.
Now we live in a small city and his life has become quiet. He can hardly hear anything now, and doesn't see very well either, and is down to about forty pounds, once again a smallish dog with great paws and a large head. But his life is still full because he is a dog of light who reflects great events and great moments. And even today you can see him sitting there on his old rocky ridge. He spends a lot of time there now, intently watching all the gleaming lights from the forests beneath him, listening to the sounds of his own land and smelling worlds that we humans will never even know about. He is clearly master of all he surveys, and is quite at home, reflecting on his own very special universe. Welcome to the Big 1-5. Happy birthday, Wali.
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