Today, October 28th, Ginger celebrated her third birthday. It was a big party with gifts and a doggy cake with birthday candles. Amid the excitement of celebrating Ginger’s birthday, it is also a time to reflect upon those three years.

But that was when Ginger was a puppy. Today, she a big dog weighing in at 80 lbs., which is huge for Setters. Generally, females range from 53-64 lbs., and males range from 60-71 lbs.

A half century ago, the first thing that I did after returning from a year of post-graduate studies at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland was to get a job. The second thing was to get my first Ginger. Ginger 1 was around 55 lbs. My second Ginger is a third larger than her predecessor. She isn’t overweight and is as active as Ginger 1.

I got my second Ginger in my twilight years. Much has happened in my life between my two Gingers. My children learned to walk with Ginger 1. In the last decade, I danced with death twice. It haunts me the juxtaposition about where I am in my life relative to my Irish Setters.

If you go online to the Social Security’s Life Expectancy Calculator, you can put in your sex and date of birth, and Social Security will give you the time that you still have left in life based upon actuarial tables. Ginger and I have about the same life expectancy, which also haunts me. While Ginger is a happy and exuberant Irish Setter, she is twenty-nine years old if you convert her age into human age. If we both live for another dozen years, we will both be in our late 80s or early 90s. I look forward to growing old with Ginger Pooh, which is one of my many nicknames for her. Setters are one of the most affectionate canines. However, Ginger is on steroids when it comes to wanting to be with me, which is nice.

However, in six weeks, I will be flying overseas for four weeks. That separation anxiety issue isn’t a pleasant feeling for me. I can only imagine what it will be for her when I am gone. That’s another haunting. Therefore, this birthday is special for Ginger and me. In a way, I want to enjoy the moment and hope that she can do so also. We can’t control everything that occurs in the future. The best that I can do is to cover as many bases and hope for the best.

The following are some pictures of her birthday party with Kayla, Ginger’s best buddy.

This is Ginger worried that someone will steal her birthday cookie.

After Ginger ate her birthday cake, she got her presents.

Finally, Ginger fights for her blue and yellow octopus, but Kayla put up a good battle.