My Dog
I sat down in my chair to write a story for you but my mind was blank today. I tried so hard to think of something to write about but my mind was just lost. I thought about life and death, love and happiness, even sadness and pain, but nothing. I remember when I was a much younger man, and we had our first three children. Amanda, Jennifer, and Christopher. My dad had just died and we rented the upstairs of my parents home from my mom. She lived downstairs.
I was in the flooring business, you know, the carpet guy who carpeted your house or office, or installed your kitchen floor. The kids were young. Chris was five years old, Mandy was four, and Jenn was two. The girls shared a room, and Chris had his own. I was changing the carpet in their rooms and decided to be a bit playful for them. I put grey carpet in his room with a brown runway from the door to the head of his bed. On the runway, I seamed in a big dinosaur out of green carpet. It's eyes were black and white with nice black eyebrows. It had a red tongue that hung out like a puppy dog. I enjoyed making that for him.
Next I did the girls room. The main area was eggshell white. Not a good choice for kids, but I was young, who knew. lol I also seamed in a runner to their bed. It was a bright red carpet. I inserted a white cross at the top. Still it seemed something was missing. One night while loading up at the store for the next day, I saw carpet samples being tossed out. I took them home. I put all different size pastel colored hearts all throughout the white carpet. They loved it, and so did I. We didn't have a lot, but they had something that all their friends thought was the most awesome thing going.
It was around this time our dog had died. Her lame was lady. She was a small beagle who was abused and very scared of people. It took a while to get her to even trust us. She got out one night didn't come back. We searched for a few hours but we couldn't find her. I left for work about five AM the next morning. I kept my eye out for her. When I got about a mile away and just near the highway, I found her. She had been hit by a car. We were all devastated.
A few days later, Janet my wife, said it would be okay if I went to the shelter and got us a new dog. When I got to the shelter there was a lone dog outside in the run. I went inside and there were many many more. I walked up and down checking out the dogs to see which one wanted to come home with me, and become a member of our family. One dog, kind of large, a Shepard, collie mix, came to the front of the fence and licked my hand right through the cage. It was the one that was outside alone. I continued up the cage line and then came back to Hershey. That was her name. She was all light and dark brown swirls from head to toe.
The girl who ran the shelter told me she needed to be fixed and that it would cost around two hundred and sixty dollars, and that I could not take her until that operation was performed. I was gonna just blow it off and pick another one, when I noticed on the little card by her name, some one had drawn and colored a bunch of little hearts, all pastels and all different sizes. I immediately thought of the girls room. Okay, I'll take her. I gave the girl a deposit and told her I would be back the next day with the rest of the money. As I left, I looked back at the outside kennel and there was Hershey. The only dog outside, and watching me leave. I got out of my van, and went to the kennel cage, bent down, and told her I would be back and that she would be coming home with me. I let her lick my face through the cage and then I left. I felt bad leaving her there like that.
Anyway the next day at work, I asked my boss for a small advancement of the weeks pay, and he gave me the money to get the dog. About a week later I was allowed to take her home. When I got to the shelter she jumped all over me like she had been mine for ever. We got in the van and home we went. When the front door opened and these three little kids came out, she went berserk. She ran all around them and rubbed up on them all. But she did not jump on them. It was like she knew they were too small. She was ours, and there was no denying it. She played with the kids all the time, and better yet, she was the best protector ever. Even when I would throw the kids around playing, she would get up and in my face. No one got near them kids with Hershey around.
We fed her table scraps mostly, and dog food when I could afford it. She was strong and healthy, and I might add, Happy. She lived just over twenty one years with us until one sorry day, we had to put her down. She was very old and in pain. But she lives on in my memory and in the memory of my kids. She even took them on a sleigh ride on Cranberry lake once. Five kids all on one long sled. I tied the rope to her collar and she pulled them all over the ice. She was a great friend for all the kids, and for Janet and me too. Sparky is our dog now. He is a great little buddy. As the kids are all grown, he gets to protect the ducks and chickens.He is ten years old now. He too lives mostly on table scraps, and the occasional steak. I could not Imagine living life without a dog or cat in the house. We have had other pets also, but none have ever had the love of our dogs. Well I know this isn't much of a story, but it does bring back very warm memories for me. And as I was writing this, an idea for a new story has come to mind. It will be called, Snowy Sun Birds. Peace to you all and have a wonderful week.Your friend, Mike