The day we went to the breeders to pick up our new dog we didn’t even know which one we’d be leaving with. The breeder had given us a numbered order to go into the pen and pick whichever lab pup we wanted. We were 4 out of nearly 10 people.
As the first 3 people went into the pen and grabbed the plump little black lab they chose we sat to the side. I had my eye on one little guy who was normally running around the center of the pen but would then would run back behind the puppy house and hide when people walked inside of the pen to chose their puppy.
When it was my turn I walked into the pen with Deb. She immediately grabbed a puppy near her feet and said “Oh this one!”, I, instead, sat down on the cement floor of their pen and just said “Okay, which one of you is wail?” and that little black lap who had been hiding behind his pup house ran out and jumped into my lap. I grabbed him up into my arms, stood up and let Deb and the breeder know that this was my dog. At that second he became officially known as “The Prince of Wails.”
The trip home was long, some 3 or so hours and he slept in my lap the whole time. When we got back to the house he ran around our legs as we showed him around his new home. Even though we had just taken this little creature, barely 4 months old, from the only family he had ever known he settled in instantly and was just the happiest little thing I’ve ever seen.
He followed me everywhere and we were instantly a team. He was my boy. Everyone thinks they have the best dog. It’s just like it is in parenting. With Wail things were different. Everyone loved Wail. Every time we’d go out someone would say “That’s the best looking dog I’ve ever seen.”, or “That’s the best behaved dog ever.”
With Wail, I was accustomed to him being the “best” in everyone’s eyes. The breeder, after witnessing the dog he was becoming, quickly told us how he regretted him to us because he was the perfect specimen for breeding and showing. He begged us not to neuter him so we could show him and breed him. While we entertained the thought for a while we realized we just wanted to love him as part of the family and be with him as he wanted to be with us. The breeder was not pleased and in the end he pretty much stopped talking to us all together over it.
It didn’t matter to me, all I wanted was a doggy I could love, snuggle, to play and have adventures with and Wail delivered in spades. He lived a life of enjoyment, indulgence and happiness. He had a few medical problems near the middle years of his life. He was diagnosed with cancerous tumors on his backside and belly, but luckily for everyone they were benign. And while he got a few more tumors over the years, they never affected his quality of life.
Just a few years ago it was apparent that he was having trouble with his hips. Hip Dysplasia is a common ailment in Labradors and the first year or so after it appeared we were able to treat it easily with medications. Everything was smooth sailing up to a few months ago when I noticed Wait appeared to have an infection in his tooth. We took him in and indeed it was a broken tooth that had become infected. After having it extracted I brought him straight home for a day of relaxation. As he was getting out of the car his sister Abby jumped on him and through him from the car to the concrete. Something bad had obviously occurred in his neck because he was unable to move his left front leg. We took him straight back to the vet where it was diagnosed as permanent nerve damage. From this point on Wail’s mobility would be severely reduced. With his bad back hips and his bum left from leg, on good days he could maybe move around at only 5% of his former range.
Interestingly enough where as a human would probably become insanely depressed at such a huge loss of mobility and independence, Wail was never down, depressed or sad. As a whole Wail was never upset at any time in his life. He was always happy, even when faced with hardest challenges that could be heaped on a dog. It’s this happiness and joy that I’ll miss the most. Out of every single person and animal on this planet he was the only creature that was always happy to see me.
Sadly all good things must come to an end, and so today something phenomenally great has had it’s epilogue. This morning, when I woke up I heard Wail making a grunting growling sound that I have never heard before. I knew there was something very wrong. When I went to him he was rigid, foaming at the mouth and his belly was shaking. We rushed him to the pet hospital in record time where the wonderful staff and terrific Dr performed test after test on him.
However, the prognosis was undeniably grim and final. I've lost friends, uncles, grandparents and a parent, and I cried harder than I’ve ever cried before as the realization sunk in and it was clear that Wail’s time had come to a close. We held him tightly as the Doc began to administer the sedative that would put him to sleep. He was a brave dog and in the last few minutes all of the pain and fear he had in the morning had eased away and he was once again the happy, tame, loyal, clam, perfect and loving companion has had always been.
I closed his eyes with my hand and whispered into his ear that I wanted him to stake a nice plot of land for the family in the afterlife, that I loved him more than anything and that he should hurry on so he didn’t miss ‘Doggy Heaven Orientation’.
Rest in peace, Wail. I love you <3<3<3
Walkscore.com recently ranked America's most walkable neighborhoods and cities. Where does your hometown land in the rankings? And how much do you actually find yourself walking instead of driving?
My house ranks 14 out of 100, or "Car Dependent". I really didn't need to visit this site to know this.
The house were I was raised, however, ranked 51 out of 100, or "Somewhat Walkable". Somehow, I really didn't need to visit the site to know this, either.
Note to self: Do not binge on junk food first thing in the morning, no matter how hungry you are.
Typically, I eat breakfast with The Boy each day. It's never anything elaborate, usually some yogurt and whatever he doesn't want to eat of his cereal and/or fruit. This morning, though, I only had a few pieces of cereal; he was happy to eat all his peaches and cereal. So, like other mornings when I don't eat much, I just decided to drop him off at school and continue on to work. After all, I always have food at my desk.
Well, this morning's treasure hunt yielded four Hostess muffins in their 100 Calorie Packs (now all gone) and a quarter of a large bag of potato chips (also gone). No grits, no oatmeal, no cream of wheat. Just crap. And, because I was hungry and didn't want to go to Wendy's and shell out five bucks for something that really isn't good for me anyway, I ate junk food.
And now I feel sick. It serves me right.
At least I've got yoga this afternoon so I can kind of detox. I'll just need to keep drinking water to flush out as much as I can before then!
I want you.
Because you are smooth
and when I'm with you
we don't do much talking
we just are
and when I'm with you
I'm comfortable in my softness and my skin
no defense just ease
I want you
in the summer
naked in all your chocolare goodness
strolling around my bedroom
staring out of the window
at ease
I want you
in the cool of the summer evening
re-creating the heat of the afternoon
my back feeling the cool of the wall
slow
working soo slow
i want you
reading the discarded sports section
from the saturday guardian
I want you
reading the travel section over my shoulder
I want you
reading the FT on Sunday with me
just one page ahead
or one page behind
Yeah,
I said it.
I want you.
- I struggled with a title, hence the one you see above. I thought this looked cool!
- 5 days post chemo treatment. I'm hoping I start to feel better over the next few days. Mainly muscle and joint aching has been the culprit following this cycle. I experienced this with the last treatment but it wasn't as bad as this go around. The is a side effect of Taxotere. The pain is making it difficult to sleep. I meet with my Oncologist tomorrow, I think I will have her prescribe something for the pain. The hot flashes started with is cycle too. I feel like I've aged 20 years!
- Still going to support group meetings at Gilda's Club. It's going "ok" what I'm starting to see though is that they do a lot of conversing about non cancer related topics/issues/concerns. I mean this week, 1.5 hours were spent with folks talking about their recent vacation to Ireland, walking dogs and grandchildren with about 30 minutes of participants speaking on their status and sharing. And there is one women that monopolizes the entire session! She talks too much, and when anyone else speaks she takes that over with her stories. I can tell that it annoys the faciliator and the other people too. Its called "group" for a reason biatch!
- Gilda's also has another support group that meets at their clubhouse once a month called "Sisters Network." C and I thought this would be a great opportunity to connect with African American women who have experienced breast cancer. So, we went to the meeting to check it out. It was very structured, with a formal agenda and everything - a little too structured - actually, I thought I was on a conference call for work! Anyway, it seems the purpose of the organization is to raise money for breast cancer awareness and community outreach - essentially knocking on doors to talk to African Americans about breast cancer. This is all fine and well and something I will be interested in doing once I get on the other side of treatment, however right now I'm looking for support groups to get through this ordeal. I was so syched for this organization too! The perfect group for me would be gay, African American women with breast cancer - I honestly don't think that exists.
Do you ever read the "Acknowledgments" at the beginning or end of a book? Why or why not? Bonus points: What book contains your favorite acknowledgments?
Submitted by Strive2Be.
Yes, pretty much every time. I'm always interested to read the author in their own voice. Curious about who they care about.
I've been acknowledged in a book twice. Once in the regular acknowledgments, once a textbook was dedicated to me. I'm not telling.
I love this show, and even more so now because of this advert.
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