I haven’t written in a while mainly due to the crazy last month. I put in my two weeks for my job and became a full-time Youtuber. Something I feel will prosper and grow, especially with better quality content and time. It’s an amazing feeling to be able to put the time I wanted into my content. I've been getting the last of my stocked stuff out before rolling out my “new” vibe. I’m very hopeful for that future.
But all those great things aside, I had to do something needed but rough today. We put down our dog after 13 long years. Her name was Angel and she was a Lab. Probably the nicest dog ever, even though she would bark and jump if someone decided to take a walk through our yard (we border a trail). We would actually tell people she was more likely to lick them to death than ever lay a paw on them. We got Angel back when I was in first grade (woah, still can’t think of that) so in many ways, she was my childhood. My mom never wanted pets, but my dad being the great guy he is got one for us anyway. What’s a kid without a pet? The one thing I will never forget about Angel though was the amount of energy and strength that dog had! It was like a muscular bull in dog form. She would run and pull grown men on walks if they tried to hold her back. She would often run off if we let her free to roam the yard, which generally meant me chasing after her through the neighborhood. I could always hear the friendly laughs of people seeing this kid run after his free dog all the time. She was always a fighter, which had it’s interesting moments. One day she decided barking and running at a mother deer protecting her child was a GREAT idea! I was still a kid then and remember us desperately trying to get her to lay off but that wasn’t in her personality. Another night a few years later she got into a stand off with a coyote while she was going to the bathroom. Never saw that guy again after she chased him off. If nothing else she kept the place interesting.
Well as all things happen, time moves on. I started growing up and she grew much older. We kept thinking she would retire her wild and crazy days, but she would still remind us with the occasional escape and neighborhood chase. Still, you could tell she was slowing down and her health started having problems. It started off as allergies in the summer but led into many ear infections. Within the last two years though, you could really notice the changes. In fact, we thought it was around her time back then, but after some household changes and a new medicine she was like a puppy again. Sadly though, this last year was the hardest. She lost her hearing and her eyesight started to go. No matter where she was, she was always so confused. Many times she would just have this blank stare. And as labs have it, her legs started to give out whenever she bumped anything. She had an enormously hard time getting up and lost unnatural amounts of weight. It became very hard to see this happen, but we all knew what was next.
So today I said goodbye to her. My companion from recess and times tables to graduation and working life. I’m not going to remember her as she was in her darkest days though, but as she was in life. The pain in the butt, wild dog with the happy-go-lucky grin. The steam train that used to pull me up hills on summer walks. The excited dance when you picked up a tennis ball or leash. The sweetest dog that would lick my face and lay by me when I was sad. These are the things I will always remember of her. Because I will always be her boy and she will always be my dog.
Angel, thank you for all the time we had.
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