Hi friends. Reef the fox here with your weekly “Reef’s Report.” I don’t really have anything funny to say this week. And for those of you who know me, you know how unusual that is.
We’re sad to announce our dear Louie has passed away.
I’ve spent years reporting on the ridiculousness that happens around here. The snacks. The naps. The scandals. The new arrivals I never approved. The daily injustices I endure as the obvious favorite child. But Louie was here before all of that. Before me. He and Libby were the beginning. They were the foxes who helped build Pawsitive Beginnings Inc. into what it is. Louie came here carrying a lifetime of things none of us could ever fully understand. He was cautious. Complicated. Sometimes grumpy. He kept parts of himself guarded until the very end.
My mother always respected that about him. She never needed Louie to be anything other than exactly who he was. For six years, he was safe here. He had good food, soft places to sleep, sunshine, ridiculous amounts of enrichment and a human who loved him enough to never ask him for anything in return.
And then, in his final days, something changed.
Louie let her in.
He let her hold him. He let her pet him. He let her love him in a way he had never allowed before. Maybe he was tired. Maybe he finally understood that the hands reaching for him were the same hands that had protected him all along.
I don’t know. I’m just a fox. What I do know is that things feel different around here without him. His space is quiet. My mother is sad. And for once, I don’t have a sarcastic observation that can make any of it better. Louie deserved the six years he had here. He deserved safety. He deserved dignity. And when his body could no longer carry him comfortably through this life, he deserved to leave it surrounded by love. And he did.
So this week there are no complaints from management. No investigations. No grievances filed.
Just a little red fox saying goodbye to one of the ones who came before him.
Anywho, that’s all for this week. Until next time, Reef, over and out!
