Memorial Day Weekend has always been a favorite weekend of mine for many reasons. The northern California weather is finally warm on a daily basis, baseball is in full stride with teams beginning to emerge as either contenders or losers, and it’s the unofficial beginning of Summer. But for the past nine years what has made it very special is it’s the weekend that Kali flew into my heart from Taiwan. Nine years ago.

Long time followers of The Golden Kali Blog know the story and history of how this special dog changed my life. How she flew from Taiwan with 23 other Golden Retrievers arriving at SFO via China Airlines flight 004 on Saturday evening, May 24th 2014. Those who don’t can read how it started here.

I still recall I can still feel the excitement I had leading up this day when Kali would join our family. After five years without a dog in our family I knew we prepared to welcome Kali into our lives and devote the time, energy, and love to make sure she was happy. What I was not prepared for was the almost immediate and powerful bond that developed between Kali and I.

With any rescue, families should be prepared for an adjustment period of weeks or even months. Given Kali was coming from half way around the world we expected it would take her some time to acclimate to her new environment. It didn’t. It’s funny to think back on it now but at the time I wasn’t sure if Kali would respect the house and our belongings. Would she chew on the furniture? Would she try to steal our food? Was she really house broken? Not knowing any of this before she arrived I had decided that over the long weekend I would spend the first few days mostly outside with Kali as she adjusted. So Sunday morning, her first in America, we headed outside. Kali explored and I began this blog.

That was Sunday of Memorial Day weekend nine years ago. Today, on this Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, I am doing the same thing as I was doing nine years ago. Sitting outside with my laptop writing a post about Kali. So in some ways things are much the same and in other ways they are so much different.

For one Kali is not longer with me at my feet as I write. Kali crossed over the bridge January 1, 2022. This is the second Memorial Day weekend without her. But this remains our special holiday. Time and space will never take that away from us.

If not for Kali I may never have experienced first hand the bond that is possible between man and a dog. My friend Dee tells me that Kali was my Heart Dog. That special dog that no matter who follows him or her, and no matter how much you may love those that follow, they will never replace one’s Heart Dog. Dee is right! Kali is forever my Heart Dog.

If not for Kali there would not have been a Kloe and not a Koda. Kali was Sissie Mama to our two younger girls. An unassuming and subtle alpha, Kali was a gentle and benevolent leader to whom Kloe -especially Kloe- looked up to. Kali gave my wife Holly the courage and motivation to take on a pup (Kloe) as were preparing a move to the mountains (yep on Memorial Day weekend) in 2016. Holly did the heavy lifting with Kloe’s development and training and they have a special bond. Kloe is “Holly’s dog”. As Kali aged I could not bear the thought of her passing and leaving Kloe without a sibling. Enter Koda in 2018. There’s always room for one more dog!

And without Kali there probably not have been a move to the mountains. Kali changed our lives, our thinking, and our priorities. Our life in Suburbia had been great. We raised our family in the East Bay of San Francisco and had a great life. Now, as empty nesters, our vision for our home had changed. Kali was at the center of that vision and gave us the inspiration to make a move. Heck, if she could travel from Taiwan to America and thrive we could certainly do the same in the mountains. It had always been a vision of mine to live in the mountains and Kali gave me that push!

So as I close I offer respect and a nod to the men and women who served and later died in, or because of, military service and for whom this Memorial Day holiday honors. But this weekend will also always be a time that I recall Kali’s arrival and how she changed our lives.

Kali remains omnipresent at The Golden K.