(hank back in boulder with apples that had fallen from our tree…)
rosh hashana is the jewish holiday celebrating the new year. the date jumps around (as do all jewish holidays - that’s just how the jewish calendar works) but it is always in the fall. this totally makes sense to me since fall is the beginning of so many things that our lives revolve around: new school year, new TV season, fall fashion lines… the regular new year has always felt kind of arbitrary to me coming in january because it seems like the MIDDLE of the year, which it IS if you are a student or a parent and i’ve been one or the other of those for most of my life.
rosh is traditionally celebrated with a dinner that kicks off with a course of apples and honey to encourage a “sweet new year.” i’ve always loved apples (unless they are mealy and then they are awful) so rosh is a good holiday for me. i don’t have to worry about eating anything i don’t like (you can serve whatever you want for dinner - you are not restricted at all.) and i like the idea of laying the foundation for good things to happen.
unfortunately, last spring something took place that completely upended how i feel about apples. my darling hank got a hold of one and took too big of a bite that ultimately got wedged in his throat. he came running to me and he was whimpering and throwing up EVERYWHERE and even though i feel like we are really connected and i normally know what he is thinking, i had no idea what was causing him so much trouble. of course i raced him to the emergency vet… he was in such dire straits when we got there that they told me they weren’t at all sure he would survive. it was absolutely devastating! they also took my credit card so they could get payment for an enormous deposit.
i left in tears after he was whisked away for testing and evaluation. once home, i went to work cleaning up his vomit, which was all over the place, and i discovered a tiny bit of apple. i immediately called the vet to tell them that might be the culprit and sure enough they found an apple chunk stuck in his esophagus that had not been visible on his scan. while removing the chunk DID help, he had already coughed and wheezed so much that he had inhaled vomit into his lungs, which is dangerous for anyone, but especially for a smush face dog. they put him on all kinds of antibiotics and meds to sooth his throat, help him breath and calm him down, but they were not at all confident he would pull through. as the treatments and tests piled up, they asked for an additional deposit and told me to keep my phone on. i got a call at THREE in the morning from the doctor asking if they had permisison to intibate him (and for another deposit!) OF COURSE, i said, and just lay in my bed worried beyond belief and thinking until it was finally morning. i started to imagine his shiva (the jewish mourning tradition) and thought i would have it in the dog park at dusk so his local friends could pay their respects, but i was worried about his boulder pals, especially louie next door… could i have a zoom shiva for them? obviously, this is not the helpful, positive kind of thinking i should have been doing, but i was trying to prepare myself.
(louie and hank on a sofa playdate)
(hank and louie playing in the grass)
i was allowed to visit the next day - he was in a special oxygen tank and i got to crawl in with him for a bit until the nurses said too much oxygen was getting out. i left his lamby there and was pretty much a wreck for the next FIVE days that he remained in the hospital. on day FOUR they finally felt he’d turned a corner and were optimistic about his recovery. day five i got to bring him home (with a big bag of medications that he had to take for the next month… i kept wondering what people who have real jobs that they can’t do from home do when their dogs go through something like this.)
(hanky in the special oxygen tank… he was so miserable he couldn’t even turn around and look at me…)
(the night nurse sent me this photo of hank all snuggled up with his lamby… the vet staff was TIP TOP!)
two months out from this terrible incident, you would never have known hank had suffered so (except all his little legs were shaved so they could insert IVs and it takes forever for his hair to grow back.) but i have been left with a ferocious dislike of apples. i have gone from having good associations with them, “an apple a day, keeps the doctor away.” to remembering the role they have played in undoing so many people, like EVE and snow white… there’s a reason for the term “rotten apple.” so while i am excited to celebrate the new year (honestly, 2025 has been a shit fuck of a time according to both the jewish calendar and the regular one and i am READY for some change, which is really saying something as i don’t typically like change… i have been wearing the same lip gloss for at least twenty-five years: laura mercier - rose) i don’t know what to do about the apples. obviously, i haven’t had them in my home since the one that cost THIRTEEN THOUSAND DOLLARS nearly took hank out… we may just have to celebrate with a smaller, safer fruit like blueberries or i could pulverize them (might feel cathartic?) and serve apple sauce… wishing you all a wonderful, sweet new year! x0x0x
(hank on his first day home… he was so SKINNY and look at his little shaved ankles)
(i think the devil growing out of the tree should have tipped eve off that the apples were no bueno! also - i never imagined flamingos in the garden of eden…)
(snow white looks none too sure about this red delicious…)
image credit: walt disney
