It doesn’t seem like an emotion as wonderful as love should hurt, but sometimes it really does. Today I’m thinking about it in the context of loving a pet. For me its dogs, but for other people I know it can be cats, birds, bunnies, turtles, snakes, rats, or lizards. I may not understand some of those attachments but I believe they are real.
Last fall I thought I was going to lose Seamus to a spleen problem, but a very skilled vet managed to save him. A few weeks ago I found out that Bodhi might not be with me for as long as I had expected. It appears he has a tumor in his brain that will very like shorten his life. Weeks? Months? A few years? We just don’t know. Right now he is his usually happy and goofy self and doesn’t seem to be in pain. But I can already feel the grief of eventually saying goodbye.
There have been moments when I’ve decided that I wouldn’t put myself through that ever again, but eventually I decide that the years of loving a dog are worth it. My life without a dog wouldn’t be nearly as rich and fulfilling. The unconditional love part – true, in both directions. Every dog that I have shared my life with has left a mark on my heart. They have all had very different personalities, different challenges, and different ways of showing their love. But, it has always been there.
My life has been blessed with many dogs. Since dogs don’t live as long as people, that also means I have had to say goodbye to many dogs. Most have lived to advanced age, but that doesn’t make it any easier to say goodbye. My dogs are an incredibly important part of my life and it is painful to even think about not having them with me.
Scooby is still really young. So, unless something unexpected happens, he will be with me for about a decade. That’s lots of puppy love.