May 1, 1993 was my beloved dog Gypsy's birthday. She succumbed to mast cell tumor cancer on March 5, 2007. She was a paragon of health until this damn disease hit her. We fought it, together from June 2006 until her death. She had 9 excellent months, overall, and always got over her bad days. When she wasn't getting over her last bad day, I had to make the most difficult decision of my life. Just thinking about it is making me ball right now like a little baby. Fuck, but I loved that dog, and still miss her dearly. There's a verse in the song "Mr. Bojangles" by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band that goes:
He danced for those at minstrel shows and county fairs
throughout the south
He spoke through tears of 15 years how his dog and him
traveled about
The dog up and died, he up and died
And after 20 years he still grieves
I know exactly how he feels and I also know that if I'm alive in 20 years, I will still be grieving, too. Someday I want to write about her -- maybe a "Marley and Me" short story or something, but I can't yet, as I'm still too sad about it all. Fuck, fuck, fuck.
Here's a blurry picture of my girl that I keep on my cell phone. This was very near the end of her life, but she was still full of happiness (she was "talking" to me in this photo). She wore a t-shirt for 2 reasons -- so she wouldn't go at her tumors and so the medicine would stay on. What a wonderful friend.As an addenda, the continued loss of my beloved friend makes my whole insides hurt. It is like nothing I've ever experienced before, and I've had most of my family die off over the years. While I'm sad about many of them, it doesn't weigh on me daily, like Gypsy does. And the hurt has gone away after 2+ years. This hurt for Gyppers is just just embedding itself deeper in my soul. I will always love that beautiful girl. Always.
On another bad note, some asshole(s) cut down 15 flowering pear trees around the tennis courts at the high school yesterday (their campus is right next to ours). Senseless vandalism at its worst -- I don't get what the perp(s) got out of doing this. Hell, break a few windows, tag the school's walls, whatever, but killing beautiful trees? Just makes no sense to me.
Senseless Destruction of Beauty
8 comments:
I hate school vandalism. At our school, we get a lot of gang tagging (graphitti), and once in awhile a broken window as they go after our ancient computer lab.
steve w.
>While I'm sad about many of them, it doesn't weigh on me daily, like Gypsy does.
It's odd how that happens eh? On the plus side Rob, I'm sure your Gypsy and my Duffy are having a grand time up there, waiting for us to show up.
Scuttlebutt is going around school that they've caught the culprits (3 High School Seniors). If this is true, I can only hope they're expelled and with have to go through life with a GED in lieu of a Brighton High School diploma. In addition to jail time and fines.
Pete,
> It's odd how that happens eh? On the plus side Rob, I'm sure your Gypsy and my Duffy are having a grand time up there, waiting for us to show up.
Your friendship and notes to me during that time was something I'll always thank you for. You helped me a lot, yet made me sad that I never got to know Duffy.
I'm not a religious person, but if I'm wrong, seeing my dog again would be the most wonderful thin I could imagine. And if there is something after this life, I have no doubt excellent dogs like Gypsy and Duffy are being treated like royalty. :-)
I'm not religious either, but there's got to be something after this life. My parents house has ghosts, I know it. My mother and I both have had experiences in that house that can only be explained by ghosts. So yes, I believe there's something for us after this life. And if we've got somewhere to go afterwards, the dogs will be there waiting for us.
:-)
One of my Gypsy stories is a ghost story that happened during my first marriage in McLean, VA. It scared the shit out of me!
hope you showered ;)
Always, gamer though I be...
;-)
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