Our dog, Sky passed away about a week ago. And
even though, I feel like he deserves much more than a space in my Facebook
feed, I am going to attempt to write about him slash us, anyway. I have never
been a dog person so my story will be quite different from most
dog-passing-away stories that you have heard. He came into our lives only a few
weeks after I had immigrated here in the US. I never had my own dog before. In
fact, I was afraid of dogs and still tend to be. So, when he was given to us as
a puppy, he wasn’t the only one who needed training. Sky and I learned a few
tricks together the first few years. To be honest, it wasn’t always a breeze on
my part. Sky had a lot of energy and he did a few things that did not make me
happy. I cooked some lumpia for a thanksgiving dinner once and there were a lot
of leftovers but as soon as I went back to the kitchen, Sky had eaten each one
of them. There was a time when he chewed through all the pacifiers that I had
placed on the kitchen counter. He also went through a phase of going through
the hamper and chewing on the pieces of underwear. I must have thrown away 15
of them. There were the occasional bathroom accidents that I needed to take
care of. Sometimes, it’s a vomit or a dead animal in his mouth. There were a
few times when he would take off and say hi to the neighbors which often gave
me a heart attack. This sometimes required me to drive around the neighborhood
searching for him or calling and texting some people. But then, most of the
time, we were just normal. He would hang out with us in the backyard - roll on
the grass and sit with us around the campfire or play in the snow. At times, we
would take him with us hiking or camping or playing by the river. I would throw
a stick far out and he would fetch it for me. Like I said, I am not a dog
person but when my father was dying, I cried so hard and found my arms wrapped
around a dog. He served as my security guard when my husband would go on a trip
and I was left alone in the house. He has seen many family dramas and special
family events including bringing our newborn sons home and he was always gentle
with them - extremely patient and tolerant of their childish antics. He saw and
heard all the joys, sadness and fears shared in our home. - all the craziness and
everything that comes with being a family of four. As the years passed by, Sky
mellowed down and we finally reached a sense of harmony and normalcy being in
each other’s lives. But I wasn’t thinking about this too much. It is one of
those things that feels too normal, that you think it will last forever. So
when he died a few days ago, I was not very ready. I was distraught for a few
days but I never thought that would be the end of our journey together. I did
not know Sky was very much a part of our lives until he left. It doesn’t feel
the same looking at an empty crate or having no one to feed or take outside.
Right now, I’m not yet sure how I feel about dogs in general. I won’t probably
be an animal activist anytime soon - I just know that a dog that is no longer
in my life left a huge paw print in my heart.
