if you know me, then you know that saying a sudden goodbye
to this eternally optimistic, happy-as-can-be, sweet, brown-eyed girl was one of the
hardest things ever.
the fact that i can say that makes me feel blessed.
if, at 23, losing my beloved dog was the hardest thing i’ve had to go through then,
i’ve had a fairly easy life. i guess.
anyhow, it’s been a year without allie, and it wasn’t all easy.
saying bye to her at the end of october, just before the grayness of a massachusetts winter
that can depress you in the best of circumstances, was not easy. not easy at all.
bringing her to the vet and entirely expecting to bring her home with a little bottle of medicine
only to leave without her was heart-wrenching.
i can’t sugarcoat it. saying bye to her was rough.
i still miss her. we still miss her.
but, despite it, i am going to share some of the things we loved best about our dear allie.
she brought in the paper. seriously. you got her all excited on saturday mornings exclaiming in high-pitched voices (the husband’s being particularly humorous), “paper! get the paper! are you gonna get the paper!” and then you opened the door, she ran to the mailbox, grabbed the paper in her mouth, ran back to the house and dropped it at your feet, so proud of herself. much cuddling and praise ensued.
once, she was out on a potty-break, and she came back with a paper in her mouth.
it was a weekday. we only got the paper on the weekends.
our sincerest apologies to whomever that was.
(praise still ensued.)
fetching, well, she lived for it.
she’d fetch until she dropped dead, we are most certain.
a frisbee, a tennis ball, a stick. didn’t matter. you threw it, she’d bring it back.
she played hide-and-go-seek. a quality that we, her doting parents, were quite sure meant that she was of the highest intellect. a dog! able to understand the rules of hide-and-go-seek! see! she is so smart! really, it was just sit, stay, we’d go hide, then we’d tell her to come and she’d search and search till she found us. it might not’ve been the most difficult for her to understand. nevertheless, she was smart.
really, her greatest joy was being where we were.
she’d follow us to the ends of the earth.
we’re so excited to see her again one day.
there is no love like the unconditional love of a dog.
OH Allie. Even me, I miss her. What a great dog.
"there is no love like the unconditional love of a dog."
amen to that. I lost my own beloved dog back in April. she lived to the ripe old age of 15, so I can't say it was a surprise. but it still hurts to enter my house and not see her there waiting for me.