Our dog Mitzi died on August 1, 2025.

I couldn’t write about it then because it was too painful. Let me say from the outset that nothing I write here will be as beautiful as Peter Greene’s farewell to his beloved dog two years ago.

But I need to tell you about our wonderful girl.

Mary and I got Mitzi in 2013 when she was three months old. She was already 30 pounds and growing fast. She eventually reached 100 pounds.

She was born in 2012. She was a mutt. She came from a shelter in Hayward, California. When I asked the rescuer who found her what her breed was, she said: “Think of it this way. Her mother was a mutt. Her father was a mutt. They met once.” When we tested her DNA, we learned she was a mix of German Shepherd, Siberian Husky, Alaskan Malamute, and lots of others. We liked to say her eyelashes were Chihuahua.

A sweeter dog never lived. Little dogs often barked at her, and she ignored them. She was a gentle giant. She pulled me over a couple of times because she was frightened and took off like a bullet. The first time, I was walking her to the groomer, and when she saw his shop, she yanked me over trying to escape. The second time, we were taking a walk after dinner on July 3, and she heard a firecracker; she started running home and I fell over, determined not to lose control of her leash.

Her greatest fear was the sound of firecrackers and thunder. July 4 and New Year’s Eve were times of terror for this big girl. In her last years, I finally cracked the problem by taking Mitzi into a bathroom with no windows, closing the door, and playing loud music on my cellphone. It worked like a charm. She learned to appreciate Hank Williams.

Mitzi loved everyone and everyone loved Mitzi. Except for our cat, Dandelion, who was about the same age as Mitzi but weighed 15 pounds. Mitzi loved to chase Dandy but she never caught him. Never. He lived in constant fear, although once in a blue moon he would smack her, and she would back off.

Mitzi developed benign tumors in 2021 and 2022. They were surgically removed from her stomach. And one was cut off her eyelid.

Then in 2023, Mitzi developed a malignant tumor in one of her haunches. More surgery, followed by a referral to an oncologist. She took a pill every day, and a year later, in June 2024, the oncologist declared her cancer free.

One year without cancer, then it returned as a trigeminal nerve sheath tumor, a malignant, inoperable tumor in her head.

There was nothing we could do but wait. Kiss her and hug her a lot. Her favorite activity was sitting by the water and watching the boats, watching the water.

At 2 am on August 1, she woke us, as she was gasping for air. We took turns holding her, giving her ice chips. I called the vet when they opened at 8 and asked him to come to our place as soon as possible. She died at 9 am, in Mary’s arms. The vet arrived 15 minutes later.

We think of her very often. We miss her. Dogs are wonderful animals who give us unconditional love.

Here are some pictures of our girl:

This beautiful soul was an integral part of our lives for a dozen years. I can’t let this year end without paying tribute to her. I hope all of you experience a Mitzi in your lives.

I have always been a patriotic American. I love the United States.

To me, this country has always represented the words of welcome–the poem by Emma Lazarus– attached to the statue of Liberty.

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she

With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

The golden door is closed.

We no longer want those “huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”

We arrest and deport “the homeless, tempest-tost” to brutal countries where they know no one.

Trump promised to expel rapists, murderers, “the worst of the worst.” I was in agreement.

Instead, people with no criminal records are being arrested: in their homes, their workplaces, their schools, on the streets.

Mothers, fathers, children, students, hard-working people who committed no crime. Even tourists.

My father’s father immigrated from Poland to the U.S. in 1858. You read that right. He was a teenager. My father, his youngest child, was born in 1903. My grandfather, who arrived penniless, became a butcher in Savannah.

My mother fled from little Bessarabia at the end of World War 1, arriving on a large ship filled with home-going American troops. She, her mother, and her little sister did not speak English. They had just enough money to buy train tickets to Houston, where my grandfather worked as a tailor and saved up enough money to send for his family.

My mother was 9 years old when she arrived. She always loved this country passionately.

If my family had not left Europe, they would have all ended up in a concentration camp and been gassed, as were all their relatives who remained behind.

My family was raised in Houston with a deep sense of love and gratitude for America.

Do I want open borders? No.

I want a fair immigration system that is orderly and just. What is happening today is horrible. Frightening. Ugly. Disgusting.

I am embarrassed by the sight of masked men grabbing people off the streets, embarrassed that they beat people up, handcuff them, drag them away in unmarked cars. Embarrassed that such things could happen here. Not in America.

But that’s not all.

We have a President who is vulgar, coarse, ignorant of history, and admires the worst dictators in the world. Putin. Kim Jung Un. The thug in El Salvador.

He picks fights with our friends, neighbors, and allies. He threatens to seize Greenland and the Panama Canal. He threatens to leave NATO. He abandons Ukraine, which has bravely fought off the Russian war machine since 2022.

He insisted on a budget that will eventually kick millions of people off Medicare. He killed SNAP, which provided food assistance to people who need it. He defunded green energy. He defunded any federal programs intended to mitigate climate change.

He killed USAID, withdrawing food and medical care for millions of people. People will die of hunger and of preventable diseases.

Whatever he doesn’t like is “woke,” “Marxist,” “radical left.” Whatever requires kindness, compassion, and care for others is “leftwing” and “woke.” In his evil worldview, kindness and compassion are for suckers.

He claims to be a Christian and relies on his Christian nationalist base, the people who think America should be a “Christian nation.” If any of them had ever read history or even the Constitution, they would know that the Founders insisted upon religious freedom and opposed ANY establishment of religion. They most certainly did not want their new nation to have a religious character.

In short, we currently have a government that ignores the Constitution, that is animated by cruelty, and that revels in fomenting hatred of others.

That’s why I will not celebrate today.

But I pledge to work towards restoration of the America I love. So long as I have breath, so long as I can type, I will devote my days to reclaiming the dream.