A Woman and her Dog

I am so sentimental. I took Cody on a “last walk” and made it a big deal. We took pictures, stopped and rested in all the shady places, and had petting fests. It was great.

He was happy, and I was getting through the grieving process that I had built into a bigger deal than it needed to be. This goodbye went exactly the way it needed to. I stayed for a week and watched Cody act like a puppy again with five other dogs to play with. He likes my brother, he LOVES my sister-in-law who gives him treats all the time. He is going to be a happy, healthy, well-cared-for dog. In fact, they’ve already taken him to the vet, and his tumors are benign!  What a relief!  He’s already better off because of his new home.

Me, well, I’m okay too. Of course, I will miss our walks and all the times he follows me around with his big sighs and adorable puppy eyes. I’ll miss cuddling with him when I’m cold and having silly conversations with him. But there are a lot of things I won’t miss. Like DOG HAIR EVERYWHERE!  The slobbers, the constant having to hurry back in case he needs to go outside to pee when I’m gone—the worry!! I worried about him all the time. I’ve always been a helicopter mom, and I was no different as a dog mom.

We walked downtown, and I took some cool photos of old buildings. You know what I will miss the most besides his constant adorableness? The feeling of being safe with a big dog. I could walk in neighborhoods I didn’t know without fear. I could walk at night (not that I did, but I could if needed). I could walk by scary guys and know that Cody would growl and take a chomp out of them if they even dared to act aggressively toward me. I loved having a big dog. He was a kitten in spirit, but he could look scary when he needed to, and I always felt safe with him.

I hope we both live long enough to be reunited. I like to dream of all the lives we might someday have.  But if this is the only one we got, it was pretty good!