A cat and two dogs. Three buddies who loved one another, slept together, ate together, and  guarded the yard together. 

A black and white tuxedo cat from the shelter who had the personality of the ages, Maggie was a neighborhood cat who loved one and all. A cat who, without fear, greeted all dogs walking up and down the street, one of whom, Gulliver, held a special place in her heart. She always waited to greet Gulliver, a big old black lab, on his daily trudge in the summer up the hill. She’d plop down on the grass and roll over and he would nuzzle her belly. She would give his nose a few love pats, then he would plod on his way. Maggie was a cat who wouldn’t catch a mouse if her life depended on it, and in fact, one time a mouse got in the house and I have a picture of the mouse sitting by her water bowl as she was drinking from it.

A golden retriever who couldn’t have been more special if he tried. Sam was properly raised by a family with a bunch of teenage boys in Cushing. One day, on our walk, a truck stopped us as we walked along Knox Street, and one of those boys hopped out, kneeled down, and gave Sam a big hug, and Sam, recognizing him, licked him all over. He was a dog that loved everyone on sight, brought joy to all he met, and would have been thrilled to welcome an intruder into the house. A lover of treats and of rough-housing, wrestling, and especially running on forest trails with his best buddy, Ditto. Sammy was one in a million with those big beautiful eyes and always swishing tail.

And a little mutt from the shelter who made his way to Thomaston, Maine from a kill shelter in Los Angeles. Leo was a brave and sweet little 14 lb. boy who was afraid of everything, but who, upon sight, fell in love and couldn’t believe his good luck when laid eyes on Sammy and Maggie. Sammy took Leo under his wing and taught him to run free,  to roughhouse with he and Ditto, to not be afraid of trucks and fire engines, not shrink from a man’s voice, or from a child’s touch, to wait his turn to be brushed, and to know it was okay for the three to sleep together on Mum’s bed.

Maggie passed at age 15, Sammy at age 13, and Leo at age 16. They are profoundly missed. 

Patricia Hubbard lives in Thomaston