Man's (or Woman's) Best Friend

"A dog has no use for fancy cars or big homes or designer clothes. Status symbols mean nothing to him. A water-logged stick will do just fine. A dog judges others not by their color or creed or class but by who they are inside. A dog doesn't care if you are rich or poor, educated or illiterate, clever or dull. Give him your heart and he will give you his. " ~John Grogan

I just finished watching Marley and Me for the second time and am once again in a puddle of tears. Marley reminds me so much of Abe- although Abe isn't QUITE so destructive ;-) I'm not sure why I thought watching that movie again was a good idea. Don't get me wrong, I love it, but sheesh- now I am an emotional wreck.

I'm sure there are many of us who have lost a pet at some time or another. What an emotional and heart-wrenching thing it is, especially if you have had the pet for a long time. Probably one of the saddest days of my life was when my first dog, Ben, died. You see, I got Ben when I was five years old. He was a Shetland Sheepdog and one of the best dogs you could ever ask for. Being an only child, I often called him my brother. Once, I even told a lady at the grocery store that I had a brother and my mother made him stay in the yard. The lady was horrified, of course, and my mom assured her that my "brother" was, in fact, a dog. Despite my mom's assurance, I doggedly claimed that "No, mama, Ben is not a dog, he is my brother and you make him stay in the yard." Needless to say, that lady didn't stick around much longer.

But that goes to show how close I was to Ben. By the way, his whole name was Benjamin Bunny after the Beatrix Potter series, Peter Rabbit- clearly, I loved Beatrix Potter! (I was only five, remember)

There aren't many memories I have of my childhood that don't include Ben. One of his favorite things to do was run up the sliding board as I was climbing up the steps. Then, he would slide down with me, and run back up to meet me when I climbed up the steps once again. Ben was not only our pet, but my playmate when I was young.

So, at the age of 18, one week shy of leaving for college, when Ben finally reached the end and passed away, I was devastated. It was like losing my best friend. His health had been failing and we were just before having to put him to sleep when he drifted away on his own. I still remember clearly my dad wrapping Ben in our favorite "snuggie"- a hand-knitted afghan- to bury him down at our farm, where he used to love to run wild in his younger days. I left for college with a heavy heart, knowing that when I came home Ben would no longer be there to greet me.

I often think back to the times I had with Ben and how special they were since he was my first pet. I feel lucky to have had a dog so faithful to grow up with and, to this day, I miss that little Sheltie.

And now that I have had quite the good cry, I'm off to bed to rest up for the 9:00 service at church in the morning.