Goodbye Lucky ‘Biner
We’ve been together for 14 long years, attached at the hip since college. A dozen times a day, I reach down to give you a little pat and make sure you’re still there, always by my side. I never leave the house without you and when I lose sight of you, I panic.
You are my trusty carabiner. Holder of my keys, safety back up for all my dog outings, my loyal companion. I’ll never forget the day I bought you (with my employee discount) from the Ramsey Outdoor Store. I had no idea then, but you were to become one of my luckiest, most favorite tools for working with dogs.
Today, after many weeks of trying to ignore the signs that you were starting to slow down – getting stuck open, not snapping closed fast enough, totally silver with no traces of your old cobalt blue coating – you finally told me it was time to let you go.
For the first time in 14 years, you got stuck slightly open and I lost a set of my client’s house keys. It would have been irresponsible of me to continue making you work.
So, with a heavy heart, I bought a new carabiner and retired you to my desk drawer. This new guy isn’t the same. My keys don’t slide around him smoothly and, every time I have to shake the keys into place, so that I can clip the newbie onto my belt loop, I think of you old pal. No one did it better than you.
Thank you for an awesome 14 years lucky ‘biner. You were a dog walker’s dream.
My Lucky ‘Biner 1998-2012
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notes from a dog walker 
I was literally terrified to read this! Sorry for your loss!
No, we need a break from all the serious stuff for a bit! Thank you for your sympathies : )
I just had to post to say that I have that *exact* same ‘biner. Also bought in an outdoors store here in the Twin Cities. Mine too is quite silver, though I think has a touch more cobalt still than yours. In fact, for fun, I had to take a picture of it: http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/5442/20120724155945221.jpg
Whoa – neat! That’s my ‘biner’s long lost cousin, no doubt about it. Thanks for sharing the photo with me. That’s amazing!
Unsolicited product review:
I love this product. I have a bunch of sizes and use them for all sorts of things. I’ve only had mine for less than five years, and they haven’t seen constant use, so I can’t comment on whether they’d match the excellent record of your trusty pal.
But I thought I’d share my enthusiasm.
http://www.leevalley.com/us/garden/page.aspx?p=61609&cat=2,2260,33144&ap=1
Oooh, fancy! Thanks for sharing the ‘biner love!
Biners are Da Bomb!
So sorry for your loss!! I’m recommending that you take some quiet time when you can and think about setting up a little altar / sacred space to honor the ‘biner’s memory. Hard to know what kind of candle to recommend, though…
You are hysterical. Thanks!
Last year I found some of these at my hardware store, only way more sturdy. They’ve revolutionized my key organization 🙂 I just label the actual keys and the only plastic tag on the chain is a “reward if found” tag.
http://tinyurl.com/clqfruu
ooooh. pretty! thankfully, my keys are coded (no names or streets), so they can’t be identified as my client’s keys, if lost. But good call on the “reward” idea. nice!
oh same here! i have the reward tag to save me the hassle and $ of replacing them all should i be stupid enough tot lose every single key 🙂
Oh no – that would only happen if your ‘biner had a total meltdown ; )
Carabiners are very important.
Great visual aids, btw
How’s the new ‘biner working for ya?
I’m finally getting used to it ; )
Good. Geting used to new things is hard for me, I don’t even like buying new clothes. You could probably see that with one look in my closet!