Again this week I want to share with you a couple of interesting things that I encountered while on a recent trip to Sweden. It seems that no matter which country I venture into, there are always people willing to share stories about their pets and the special relationships they have with them.
Stockholm Sweden
Torv, the 32-year-old Jack Russell Terrier from Stockholm was one pet I will never forget meeting, and his owner Lena was remarkable as well.
I rarely forget a pet, and when I bumbled onto the second class car with my two suitcases and carry on, I couldn’t help notice the little brown tail sticking out and wriggling like a metronome when I walked down and took a seat next to him. Opposite my seat was a little grey face with two sweet, twinkling eyes and a little wet nose resembling a luscious gourmet olive from Sonoma Market. Beside the little brown and white dog was a woman who appeared to be in her 70’s, dressed in a beautiful cream colored dress and matching coat. Her hair was blond and fine. This woman’s hair was so blond it lacked color – similar to a polar bear.
“Hello,” I said in Swedish to her. “What a sweet dog.”
“Yes, but very naughty. However, he is 32 so he has a right to be a little naughty.”
Had I heard correctly? I knew my Swedish was far from perfect as was my hearing, so I asked again. “Really? 32, I have never heard of a dog who was that old, and I’m a veterinarian,” I told her. “That is REALLY old!!”
“I know that,” she responded, turning in her seat towards me and smoothing out her beautiful dress. My daughter gave him to me for my 60th birthday and he has been my best friend ever since.”
“But that must mean that you are…” I stopped before stating that would make her 92 years old. Since she didn’t look a day over 70, I simply closed my pie hole and looked out the window as the train pulled out of Stockholm’s central station.
By the time we got to Norrkoping, I knew that Lena had grown up in Stockholm, was a nurse most of her life, and loved sailing. In addition, Torv was very special because he saved Lena’s late husband’s life many years ago after he suffered a heart attack and almost died. Torv ran across the street and barked at Lena until she came home from a tea party and found her husband on the floor near death.
By the time Lena got to this story about little Torv, he was curled up and fast asleep, on my lap. It appears that one of Torv’s many abilities was that he can sleep anywhere, anytime.
“But only if he likes the person,” Lena said, and it was time to get off at our destination. I was anxious to finally see my daughter Sigrid after many months, and Lena was visiting her family.
I helped Lena off the train and watched her greet a beautiful young woman who looked like she was in her 30’s who also had snow-white blond hair and a beautiful cream colored dress. I guess in Sweden, the lingonberry doesn’t fall far from the bush. I said hello to the woman who said she was Lena’s daughter. She put her mother in the Volvo and chatted with me for a few minutes. I had the opportunity of telling Ana how charming I thought her mother was and what a nice time I had meeting her and the ever enchanting 32-year-old Torv.
“Oh, did she tell you that!?” Ana said. “This Torv is only 14. When the first Torv died, he was 18 years old and mom was in the hospital. We didn’t want to tell her about it because she was very sick. We were worried the news of his death would kill her. So we quickly found one of his relatives who was only one-year-old and got him for her. He looked exactly the same with the same personality, and she never new the difference. That was 14 years ago, and that is why she thinks he has gotten so old.”
“So that beautiful woman in the car really is 92 years old?” I had the audacity to ask.
“Yes,” Ana said, looking at me with a glimmer in her crystal blue eyes. “And Torv number two is the reason she is still around”.
“Wow. That is truly remarkable.” I now realized that Ana was probably heading toward 50 or 60. Was I in a time warp? Was everyone in Sweden 20 or 30 years older than they looked?
Later on that night, as I was falling asleep in the land of the midnight sun, I wondered if my beloved Dooney was watching me from heaven, and I also wondered if there was something in the water, the vodka, or the schnapps in Sweden that makes these people look so beautiful and young.
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