a dog person. Who knew?
I've never been dog person. I swear. They're loud, rambunctious, messy, attention whores, who slobber and people spend way too much money on them. But eight years ago my family was struggling to find our joy after the divorce and then someone tried to break into my house. So, I decided to get a dog. A big, protective,vicious, bundle of wiggles.....Ebi, the golden retriever.
We sat with her, and loved on her, and she said her goodbyes to us with kisses and snuggles. The last words she heard were "Have fun chasing squirrels." And then she was gone.
But she's not. She taught me how to love again and that will never go away. She brought my daughter out of a very dark period in her life. She was a dear friend to my son. She made the Husband feel immediately like he was part of our family. She was a great friend to our adopted second dog, Rutherford. She had a tendency to eat the eyeballs out of every stuffed animal we gave her. She was patient. She knew when we were sad and just needed love.
Almost instantly there was a change in my daughter's smile. My son became more patient and kind. I no longer felt like my house was a tomb that I rattled around in when the kids were at their dad's for the weekend. Ebi became the catalyst for me to leave the house and take a walk or go to the dog park on my horrible self inflicted blind dates. She was the litmus test for those guys. If she hated them, they were gone. When she met Husband 2.0 she fell in love and I knew he was a keeper.
And so, last week, when we were in the throes of preparing for a week filled with the joyous celebration of Tori's graduation and dear Ebi started limping I almost didn't take her to the vet. But when she didn't get up off the floor when Pete came home from work and I knew. I knew that it was something more than just a tweaked ACL, something more than a sore hip....and two hours of x-rays and blood tests later it was confirmed. My dear sweet puppy was riddled with cancer and we had to make the painful, but merciful, decision to put her down that very day.
We sat with her, and loved on her, and she said her goodbyes to us with kisses and snuggles. The last words she heard were "Have fun chasing squirrels." And then she was gone.
But she's not. She taught me how to love again and that will never go away. She brought my daughter out of a very dark period in her life. She was a dear friend to my son. She made the Husband feel immediately like he was part of our family. She was a great friend to our adopted second dog, Rutherford. She had a tendency to eat the eyeballs out of every stuffed animal we gave her. She was patient. She knew when we were sad and just needed love.
She turned me into a dog person. She was loud, rambunctious, messy, and an attention whore. She slobbered and I spent way too much money on her. Would I do it again if I knew that my heart would break in just eight short years?
Absolutely. I'm a dog person.
Comments
My Mom has really been struggling since my step-dad's passing over 3 years ago. We are trying to talking her in to becoming a dog person. You can bet I will be sharing this post with her. Thanks for sharing your heart.
Hugs!!!