This week my great friend Steph and his family had to help another member to the rainbow bridge. It grieves me so much to write this. I can hardly see the keyboard becasue of the tears. Making so many errors.
This is one way to share what has been a fulfilling life.
Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole. Roger CarasEvery boy should have two things: a dog, and a mother willing to let him have one. Anonymous
He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion. Anonymous
The one absolute, unselfish friend that man can have in this selfish world - the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous - is his dog . . . . He will kiss the hand that had no food to offer, he will lick the wounds and sores that come in encounter with the roughness of the world . . . . When all other friends desert, he will remain. George G. Vest
This is Steph confiding with me:Good Sir,Good Friend, Mon Ami, Michael:
This is a heart-rendering day; Major Pain (the name of which, and of course, has always been a lie), has been put down.
My heart is aching (and so is my spelling and diction).
Major has been my companion, has been my confidant, and of course, has his own character.
He has been my friend.
Now the household is empty without his "ball busting" tail-wagging.
I am venting, good Sir, good Friend.
His hips were gone, he couldn't walk outdoors without help. Yet Dawn couldn't let him go without me saying "good-bye".
The schedule was set with Ridgetop for 6:00 p.m. 14 August, 2006.
Of course, I came home at 3:00 p.m., and he couldn't get up to give me the anxious loving and nuzzling and muzzling.
Oh, the hurt...
The "Doc" was gracious. Nathaniel elected to be there.
They inserted the catheter and brought my companion, my confidant, my character back into the room.
Dawn was at the "nose" end, Major laying on his left side down, and Nathaniel at the chest.
Me, I was on Major's back and head.
I leaned down to Major's left ear, as he'd raise his head, and said "you know my words, and you know my love..."
The "Doc" injected the serum.
Major licked my face and got my glasses pretty well done.
Then he died. Silently.
With grace and peace.
We came home to an emptiness.
The squeaky ducks that he took out of Dawn's garden are sitting where we had retrieved them...
My boots are where I put them so that he can cuddle up at night, and I can still find them in the morning...
The breakfast bowl that I get to fill every Saturday and Sunday morning as he awaits my wake-up, has been inverted...
His water-dish that I hound Nathaniel for making crystal clear and clean and more clear; has been emptied.
Tonight, I will go to bed.
Tonight, I will cry.
Tonight I will try to cuddle and hold my wife as she finally lets the emotions flow into the night, into the hope of all hopes:
Major Pain is finally free.
With all my love, my friend, I remember your support with Coco.
No work done today, maybe not tomorrow...
Later, my friend.
2 comments:
Dear Lady Kelly, and ACDLOVER:
Today marks the first week of Major Pain's passing.
With your words, your heart-felt condolences, and your thoughts, I am feeling very blessed.
It isn't that Major was lucky, it is this family that was raised by his personality, his understanding (the licks, the nudges, the paw on my lap, and so on, and so on) that has made us whole.
We are the ones graced by his life, as he taught us as well as we tried to teach him; rules and understanding, open hearts and feelings, touch and care, protect and defend, and so much more.
I sincerely wish I had the words to express all that he will always be to me, but I lack the means that he gave, in every day of his life, in every moment shared.
So, I will consider myself very rich for the gifts of love that lifted my heart by such sincerity, such honesty, and such freedom.
And I thank you, so very much for your words of comfort. I leave these thoughts and dreams with you, for the treasures you've given me:
The toddler stumbles and falls, yet, when the parent lifts the child, the toddler attempts to walk again.
The peace of success comes from the fruition of enduring.
Thank you, and thank you, so very much for the kind words.
Very Respectfully,
Stephen and Dawn Chamburs
Dear Lady Kelly, and ACDLOVER:
Today marks the first week of Major Pain's passing.
With your words, your heart-felt condolences, and your thoughts, I am feeling very blessed.
It isn't that Major was lucky, it is this family that was raised by his personality, his understanding (the licks, the nudges, the paw on my lap, and so on, and so on) that has made us whole.
We are the ones graced by his life, as he taught us as well as we tried to teach him; rules and understanding, open hearts and feelings, touch and care, protect and defend, and so much more.
I sincerely wish I had the words to express all that he will always be to me, but I lack the means that he gave, in every day of his life, in every moment shared.
So, I will consider myself very rich for the gifts of love that lifted my heart by such sincerity, such honesty, and such freedom.
And I thank you, so very much for your words of comfort. I leave these thoughts and dreams with you, for the treasures you've given me:
The toddler stumbles and falls, yet, when the parent lifts the child, the toddler attempts to walk again.
The peace of success comes from the fruition of enduring.
Thank you, and thank you, so very much for the kind words.
Very Respectfully,
Stephen and Dawn Chamburs
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