The day arrived. My oldest daughter was getting married. This story has nothing to do with riding. Well, almost nothing.

I did ride the Triumph Speed Triple to Portfolio in Boalsburg at 8am last Saturday morning to shoot a picture of her having her hair done before the 10:30am ceremony. It would be the only riding I would do that day but I suppose one has to make sacrifices for their children. And I earned the right to not be the photographer save for a few snapshots I made with a little point-and-wait camera. It was a nice day.

Time flies. Seems like yesterday that I held my little girl in a warm bath minutes after she was born. A few months ago she was being fitted for a wedding gown that languished in the store most likely because few women wanted or could wear such a long dress. It reminded me of Cinderella.

Hannah endured a few pictures while she and the stylist worked to figure out what to do. I didn’t stay for the entire session and would wait until later that morning to see the results.

The wedding took place in Eisenhower Chapel on the University Park campus of Penn State. Dwight D. Eisenhower laid the cornerstone of the chapel some time after he finished with World War II.

I photographed two weddings their myself back in the 1970s and it has remained largely unchanged to the casual observer. A Bosendorfer grand piano has replaced the more pedestrian one that was there in the 70s. I sat watching Hannah and Jason enter marriage in a simple, elegant ceremony. She has been and continues to be a source of pride. Don’t ever tell her I said that.

Hannah and Jason invited guests to have dinner at the Gamble Mill in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania. It was perhaps the most pleasant and relaxed wedding I have ever attended which for me is saying a lot. I have to admit that I shy from social events. Aversion or phobia. Chose one. But this was fun. I caught my 3 Prints Project friend Gordon Harkins photographing them. Gordon was the official photographer.

The picture above is an impressionistic interpretation of the bridal couple.

Jason and Hannah paused to let me make a picture of them with the beautiful flowers that were at their ceremony. The only grumbling of the day came from me wishing I had a real camera and didn’t have to fiddle with my point and shoot at ISO 1600. I knew I would end up with a noisy image but I planned to tell everyone that the picture is an impressionistic interpretation of the bridal couple.

I only shot 200 pictures so I can’t show any more. These are the only ones that turned out. Unfortunately I can only photograph scooters or motorcycles. Hopefully Gordon’s pictures will turn out. I’ll have to drown my frustration with my pictures and the nostalgic chords being struck seeing my little girl married with a ride. I wish her grandparents could have been with her. Maybe they are.

Until then, congratulations Hannah and Jason. All the best wishes for a fine life together.

And you should think about ditching the mountain bikes and get scooters.

Essa went for her first ride on the Vespa yesterday afternoon. Kim called to tell me the ashes were ready to be picked up at the vet’s office and wondered if I might be able to swing by on my way home. Before going on with this story I need to say something about Centre Animal Hospital. They have been a blessing during the past week and have provided outstanding care for Essa for as long as we have been going there. When Dr. Deb Smart performed emergency surgery at 3am on a Sunday morning about 6 years ago to deal with a gastric tortion volvolus she gave us six additional years with our dog. And she was with Essa at the end. We could not have asked for anything more from a veterinarian or a clinic.

Essa’s ashes were delivered in a small wooden box with flowers carved in the lid and a small brass plaque etched with “Essa”. The box was inside a plain brown paper bag with a heart drawn on the side along with a paw print made from one of Essa’s paws. Seeing that drew a sad smile. As I carefully place the bag in the rear bag on the Vespa I said out loud, “You’re going for a ride pretty girl.” I’ve said the same thing countless times as she climbing into a car or truck but she never had the pleasure of a ride on the scooter. As I traveled home by a loping route through the valley I imagined how excited she would have been in a sidecar, Doggles in place, taking in the air and smells from a complex world.

We stopped along Spring Creek at a place Essa liked to swim. It’s been a long time since she was in the water due to weakening legs. But I could see her leaping into the stream and paddling around forever if I didn’t make her leave.

I realized as I made my way home that the dog traveled these routes with me before. In the truck searching for rocks for the garden, in the car on an outing to make photographs. This was her world as well as mine. And now it was hers for good.

Kim and I aren’t sure what we’ll do with the ashes. We’ll probably spread them in the places she loved. For now she’ll sit alongside her departed companion Iggy Pup until they make their last walk together.

Early this evening our dog Essa passed quietly from this world. She was quite simply the dog of my dreams and I will miss her. Stoic through chronic conditions of old dog age she was gentle and loving to the end.

Already I feel the absence of our nightly walks. Standing at the end of the driveway looking up at the stars I can feel her in me. She taught me how to be thoughtful and as author James Thurber noted “Dogs are obsessed with being happy”. I witnessed that in her. And that happiness rubbed off on Kim and I.

I made this picture yesterday afternoon. Essa was bright and happy despite severe spinal arthritis, kidney and liver disease, and the march of time on her body. Her fire burned bright despite these setbacks.

Not long afterwards she collapsed in the yard and we took her to the emergency veterinary clinic. A night in the clinic followed and then to our vet where for a time there was a glimmer of hope that she would rally and improve. By morning though she was fading. Lying on the floor of a kennel with closed eyes I did not see her get up again.  Her body had enough living.

Kim and I stayed with her awhile in the morning and afternoon and planned to return in the evening when we got the call — a sudden decline and she was dying. Essa passed away just minutes before we arrived. The vet told us she was quiet and didn’t suffer. He body gave up just before her 16th birthday.

There was a skylight over the place where she died and as I looked up at the blue sky I imagined her flying free now unencumbered by her failed body. It’s selfish of me but I wish she had stayed a bit longer.

The house is quiet and the empty place she once occupied is palpable. For those of you who have had dogs living in the home you’ll understand.

I know the sadness will pass and the good memories will take it’s place. But right now that’s hard to believe.