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These past attendees have expressed a willingness to talk to the press. Some attendees were asked to share any stories about past Greyhounds Reach the Beach weekends that still make them laugh or cry. Their stories are in their own words. ___________________________________________________________________ I have the story of Karen and her
Reiki session. She was one of the seniors Karen, a senior with severe back
problems, was in danger of being left home ___________________________________________________________________ I have a few moments that were special. First and foremost, to walk over the dunes, look up to see the sea and to see a sea of Greyhounds walking the beach. To share a room with my good friend Kris (between us we had four Greyhounds, two boys and two girls) and awaken every so often during the night and find a different Greyhound face on the pillow next to me. They decided they wanted to play musical beds during the night and grace each of us with their royal presence! To watch my boys run free, play and gallivant at the soccer field in Rehoboth with all the other furkids. To gather on the beach with 1,000 other Greyhounds and have everyone get along better than most families. To see the look on my boys' faces as their tails wagged and they realized they were in Greyhound heaven here on earth as they reached the beach and saw their friends. Last, but not least, to meet all of the wonderful Greyhound people who come together in love and dedication to these wonderful hounds. Pat Jeanschild, Monty and the Scoobie Doooo ___________________________________________________________________ We chose Greyhounds Reach the Beach 2000 to be our wedding time because of how much we enjoyed our vacation there last year (and we had done Disney World that summer). We've been talking about getting married, and when we started talking about Dewey and how much we enjoyed being around all the Greys and our wonderful friends that have become like family, how much we enjoyed the desk people at our hotel (Sea Esta I), and what a nice honeymoon place it would be . . . the plan formed, "hey, why not do a Dewey and share the moment with our friends, too?" Plus, we want the dogs to be with us when we get married. We both share a deep faith in God, and what better place to celebrate Him and His participation in our union than on a heavenly beach with friends and family? Now, if we can just find that Methodist minister up there. It's going to be a simple ceremony, hopefully the dogs will roo for the music. *^__^* Dianne Perlsen [Dianne and Brian were married Friday evening on the Beach at Dewey 2000. They invited everyone in attendance to the ceremony, and it was beautiful. Not only did they find their Methodist minister, but the dogs did, indeed, roo for music. — Editor] ___________________________________________________________________ As we sat around the fire, enjoying the crisp ocean air, waiting for Cynthia Branigan to speak, a rooing fest broke out...I thought I heard a rooing very close to me...I looked down and there is Quincy, my four-year-old red fawn male, rooing...his muzzle pointed upward...I have never heard him roo before...(or since)...but there he was...right on que with the others. Michael Bollon ___________________________________________________________________ Last year was my first Dewey. I had adopted Phoenix, my first Greyhound in January 1999. When Phoenix got sick, I frantically searched the Web for ways to help him. I found the Greyhound List and Pro-Grey Alliance. I mostly lurked and learned. Dewey sounded awesome! Uncharacteristically for me, I got real brave and decided to go — just pups and me, not knowing anyone else who was going. I now had Snug, my second Grey baby. He was 11, was sick — dying actually — had been neglected in a nasty home situation. I was already all signed up for Dewey, but I couldn't leave the Snug man. I didn't want him to feel that he had been abandoned again. His life had been so pitiful that I wanted to show him a good time! So with lots of good advice and encouragement from the List, Snug, Phoenix, and I went to Dewey. List members who had read of my dilemma found us 'cause they wanted to meet Snug. I had asked everyone to meet and hug Snug. That pup, through his pain, was loved and hugged and snuggled and fussed over. Laurie helped Snug with Reiki. Sage shared her granola bar with him. The good folks with Nittany Greyhounds offered help. Robin sat in the back of my van, on Snug's big bed and cuddled with him. Merci and her crew, whom I had just met and was sharing a house with, were greyt. Barbara of Greyhound Friends, who had placed Snug with me, was there to make sure we were doing OK. Dewey isn't an event — it's an experience. Go with friends or go alone. I guarantee you the experience will change you! Kathy Walsh and Phoenix and Aztec (the new
kid) and Snug at the Bridge ___________________________________________________________________ I drove up to Dewey last year with close friends, my own grey Polo, and their hounds, Stryker and Sadie. Joan and Mike were the people that got Gary and I to get a Greyhound, and the entire trip up we just gabbed away at what we were going to do, buy, see, etc. Dewey Beach is an awesome experience. It is a gathering together of people who care. It is meeting people that share a love and commitment to Greyhounds and when you meet them, you know in your heart that these people also love and care about people. 1999 was my first trip to Dewey (note I say first). The entire three days were incredible, but one thing struck me above it all. It was the memorial bonfire that was held on Saturday night. Cynthia Branigan was the speaker, and as she spoke of lost loved ones I watched the tears come down Joan’s face. In 1997 she and Mike lost their very special 10-year-old girl Mavin to cancer. I know that so many people there were crying; so many had dogs (pets) that were at the Rainbow Bridge; I certainly have. But the silent string of tears that ran down Joan’s face just said it all to me. The sadness, the grief, the love we all shared that night was so embellished on Joan’s face. This year Gary will be going to Dewey with me. Joan and Mike are staying home to be with their new little grandson, but when we all sit around the fire on Saturday night, I know that the spirit of Mavin will be there talking to Joan and Mike. Abbey Zap ___________________________________________________________________ Dewey 1999 was a lot of fun. We laughed and we cried. The most fun for my Greys was the run at the Rehoboth High School field. There must have been a hundred dogs all running in every direction. My two ran like the wind, sniffed a lot of "friends," and were having such a good time that they refused to come when called. Other Dewey participants were having the same problem, so many of us met each other as we chased our dogs around the field. We read name tags as we passed each other and besides our laughter, you could hear squeals of delight as each of us found people we only knew by name from the Greyhound-L before that day. You can be sure the Saks pack will be at the field again for Dewey 2000. Eileen Saks I was out shopping 'til I dropped and upon coming out of one of the vendors rooms, I spotted a beautiful black and white, so reminding me of my beautiful sweet Zachey that I began to cry right out there in public. My sweet Zachey went to the Bridge in November of 1998, and the loss is raw to this day. Trying like the dickens to hide my tears, I began to wipe them from my cheeks. However, I was not successful in the hiding. A woman came over to me and inquired if I was ok. With quivering lips I told her briefly what was going on. Before I knew it there were six people around me all hugging one another and weeping for our losses of these remarkable creatures. Having heard all the old cliches, "It was just a dog" and my own mother having explained to someone in front of me that I had adopted Zachey at 11.5 to keep him until he died (she obviously doesn't get it), I was so touched by the kindness of strangers who understood my grief and shared their own stories of grief with me. Because of the kindness of these folks, I now help Kate Bressler in leading the Grief Chat at ABAP, in order that others suffering a loss have an ear to listen to their grief. Deb Rosenberg ___________________________________________________________________ I remember our first Dewey trip almost four years ago. At that time we had Butch, Kirby, Snowy, and Crystal. This was the only trip Butch made to Dewey. He and Snowy would jump from bed to bed in the room tossing their new stuffed Greyhound squeaky toy in the air. He and Snowy loved to watch the waves and chase the foam happily snapping at them. Butch really loved playing at the beach. Last year the memorial on the beach lead by Cynthia was a teary-eyed event. As we sat there with our Greyhounds and Whippet remembering the last time Butch was with us, we felt his spirit again. You see it was shortly after his passing that we got Ben to become Snowy's friend. Ben has all the bad traits of Butch, our old coffee thief. As we listened to the ceremony thinking of Butch with the waves he loved to chase sounding in the background, Ben suddenly snuggled between Ed and myself shoving his head under our hands. We knew Butch, through Ben, was telling us 'I am here.' I believe that the other dogs there sensed this too when there was suddenly in the quiet the rooing of the Greyhounds. Not the joyous rooing but a spine-tingling rooing of sadness. I hope this is what you wanted. I still get teary eyed thinking of that memorial. Sue Williams ___________________________________________________________________ I have a couple of stories related to Dewey... I have attended four of the five years so far, the first on my own, and the last two with my significant other whom I met through our Greyhounds and the Greyhound-L. a) The first year I attended (1996), I had only been owned by my Greyhound, Cooper, for less than two months. Cooper was still very shy, and although when alone, he appeared to be a big goofy galoot (which today, we all know that he is!), he shrank from public attention. He also would not share the couch or bed with me, no matter how hard I tried to make him see that it was ok. Two days into that first Dewey, I was complaining to my neighbors, Sue Grant and Marguerite Nault (the GPS catalog ladies) that Cooper refused to get up on the bed. They laughed a little, and informed me that Cooper had indeed been seen on the bed in the hotel room, as they walked by in the evening the prior night, while I was at dinner. A few minutes later, I snuck back to peek through the drapes into the room, and sure enough, there was Coop, sprawled out on his side on the bed, snoozing away. It was the first hint of what a ham my Cooper would become... b) The following year, 1997, I attended with Jess, my better half... we brought my Cooper again, and his Heidi and Lucky. On the last night, it was chilly, and we were sitting with a crowd of other families at an ice cream social on the deck of the Atlantic Oceanside. Heidi took that moment to climb up into Jess' lap as he sat in a lounge chair, producing great laughter at the 60 pound lapdog, and some great photos too. Heidi died in May 1998 and both last and the year before (1998 and 1999), we were remembered as the couple with that 'sweet lap Greyhound.' In 1999, a woman who had joined us on the deck that night in '97 related her tale of losing her hound to cancer... it was bittersweet, for we were united by the memory of Heidi, along with the love that we all carry for our hounds now at the rainbow bridge... Meredith Pickering ___________________________________________________________________ The funniest thing last year that happened to us was at the bonfire memorial. Before they even started and it was still quite dark, my friend's Greyhound was entertaining herself by digging a trench in the sand. This wasn't just any trench. It was the Grand Canyon in sand. And she was digging it just at the base of a poor unsuspecting lady's lawn chair! Just another few chucks with Lady's toenails and this poor woman would have been butt over tincups in her chair! My friend looked down to find Lady almost heave hoeing the lady and quickly but quietly tapped the lady on the shoulder and told her not to lean back just barely diverting a disaster! We all had a chuckle later, even the woman in the chair. Jeanni Davis and the Hounds of Dragonflyte ___________________________________________________________________
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