Wilson’s Hair • Wilson的狗毛

Hello, my name is Halden Levin, and you are listening to Little Dragon’s Journey. 你好！我叫李靜辰，你正在聽小龍的旅程。

Transition Music（音樂）

So, today’s the day I normally share a mystery flavor episode, and pretty much that means exploring any sort of topic I find interesting or talking about any sort of event that has recently occurred that I haven’t shared about but would like to share. Today, I’m kind of just talking off the cuff again. I’ve been so busy lately, so it’s been hard to plan things out. Part of the reason I’m talking off the cuff too is because this is a very recent event that occurred, so I haven’t had a whole lot of time to put a whole lot of thought into… effort into organizing my thoughts, but I think I have a clear enough idea of what I want to say.

So yesterday was April the twenty-fifth? Twenty-sixth. Sunday, April twenty-sixth, and normally on Sunday, Sunday morning or Sunday evening, depending on what sorts of events I have going on in the day or activities I have planned, I call my parents, call my family, once a week. It’s not because they require me to call them; it’s just because I like to share what has been going on in the week or talk about any America related item I need to address or share with them. I think they like to know I’m doing well and hear my voice and know I’m still going strong. Anyway, yesterday, because I’ve been so busy lately preparing my final presentation, preparing for a speech contest this Wednesday, keeping up with Chinese studying and homework, and also managing some college related items and some other really important volunteer related tasks that I was planning on waiting until Monday to call my family and maybe even say hey I’m too busy this week and will call next weekend.

Pretty surprisingly, on Sunday evening, so yesterday evening, my dad called me, and this is the first time my parents called me. Every time it’s been me calling them, and they told me that they pretty much wouldn’t call me because they know I’m busy and it’s a little hard operating with the time difference. The reason why he called me of course is because we normally talk on Sunday and also because he wanted to share with me that one of our two beloved dogs passed away Friday, Friday morning. He just wanted to make sure that I knew.

We have two dogs. I think it’s important for me to mention that we have two dogs, or had two dogs. Both of them are Labrador retrievers. One of them, the one who passed away, is a golden Lab named Wilson, and our other dog is a black lab named Norman. Norman is quite a bit younger than Wilson. Wilson passed away due to old age. I actually told my parents, told my family, before coming to Taiwan, that I had a pretty good feeling that he would pass away while I was in Taiwan. When I was a kid, and Wilson was just a puppy, I was told that Wilson would pass away when I reached 19, so when he’s 13-14 years old. Right now, I’m 19 and in Taiwan, so I guess things happened like I expected them to.

Hearing the news of course still made me kind of, not kind of, quite sad because I was thinking about returning to America after living in Taiwan, and every time I come home I love when our dogs greet me, greet us, and it’s such a wonderful feeling. That’s one thing I love about dogs; I feel like they really express their emotions in a way cats usually don’t. I usually say I’m a dog-person, but I don’t have a lot of experience with cats, so I guess I’m not one to judge; it’s hard to have an opinion in this situation. I love dogs and if I grow up and have my own family, I’d love to have a lab or two. But yeah, it made me a little sad to know he won’t greet me when I get back, and actually this evening, I was just completing some homework for calligraphy class, which I have Tuesday afternoons with Wang Laoshi 王老師. She’s truly an amazing teacher. It’s a wonderful class. There are actually only two students taking the class: Fiona and I. Pretty much we have private calligraphy lessons every week until the end of our program.

I definitely think I will continue doing calligraphy in the US. It’s a very relaxing activity; kind of a form of meditation and mindfulness. When I was practicing calligraphy this evening I had just finished writing my homework, writing 中、口、日，和下，一些比較簡單的漢字, some simpler characters. As I was putting my stuff away, my brush, my ink bowl, the ink, and the black mat I put on the table to protect the table from the calligraphy ink, I noticed a few hairs clinging to the black felt mat, and it made me think of Wilson’s hair and how little things that bother you sometimes become something you miss when somebody leaves or passes away.

Wilson and Norman being Labrador retrievers shed a lot of hair, so their hair, Wilson’s hair and Norman’s hair, get all over our clothes and all over the car and it can be a bit annoying at times. As I was cleaning up my stuff, my calligraphy stuff, and pulling a few small hairs off my black felt mat, you know I was like I miss Wilson’s hair and how it clings to everything, as annoying as it was when he was alive. It’s something. When you love somebody, the little things that can irritate you at times become something that you eventually love about them or miss about them. Like when somebody makes a mess or forgets to do something it can be kind of bothersome, but at the same time, when they’re not there to make that mess or bother you, sometimes you can have the opposite reaction. Instead of relieved, you may feel a bit of sorrow or a feeling of wanting that irritation that became something you got used and was a part of your life.

You know I think that it’s best that he passed away sooner rather than later, since he had been having some health issues. He passed away very peacefully. He walked outside the front door and laid down, like he normally does, and never got up again. My brother, he was originally going to go to school but was still at home at the time, buried Wilson in our yard and then went to school late.

I think I’ll ask my parents, if they can, and if they have the time to, I would love if they would plant a tree where Wilson is. When I was a kid, we had another Labrador named Madison, he was also a golden Labrador retriever, and when he passed away, we took his ashes and put them in the ground and planted a tree above so that his body would become nourishment for the tree, and in a way, his presence would be felt with that tree. His soul would be felt in that place through the tree. Just a thought.

This all started because a few hairs that got stuck on my calligraphy mat. It’s funny how little things can really make you think. Really make you think.

Transition Music（音樂）

Please visit haldenlevin.wixsite.com/littledragonjourney to access the transcript of this episode, and know you are always welcome to contact me through my website, email, or social media. Thank you for joining Little Dragon’s Journey. 謝謝你們參加小龍的旅程。拜拜！