The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

In about a week, on August 27th, Cookie will turn ten years old. I remember when I celebrated my tenth birthday, my main gift request – the thing I wanted most in the world—was a baseball glove. I got my wish, but that didn’t seem quite right for Cookie, who doesn’t need a glove to catch a ball. She’s a natural-born center fielder.

A birthday doesn’t really mean much to a dog, but that is true of many humans as well, which has never stopped me from attaching special importance to birthdays, especially when they are not my own. Let’s face it – there’s far less emotional baggage when you are cel...