Dear Myki
It’s the day after Boxing Day and I am sitting in the Stube, you are lying at the glass doors; I am looking at you knowing what is to come. Eyes watery, heart sore and trying to be brave remembering our life together. I know you are not well and we always agreed that we would not put you trough unnecessary pain and discomfort. I wish I knew we are doing the right thing for certain – always that bit of hope lurking around. You hung on until your 12th birthday in October, and then Christmas and gave us a most excellent gift. Thank you my friend. It’s like you just did it for us and Mommy’s prayers were answered. Praise God! You enjoyed the food, the cooking, the licks and the tastes … you had your bone and enjoyed that too, eating it slowly and savouring the marrow. A perfect Christmas Day with the whole family!
I don’t know what changed so suddenly from Christmas Day – we noticed your shoulder and arm had swollen badly during the day making it very difficult to get around with your back legs already weakened.
We are waiting for Tim to get back from his holiday. He will call after midday today to let us know when he can come around.
Myki my faithful friend – I remember when your mom called me at the office to say she decided to foster you. It’s thanks to her and Tim that you landed with your bum in the butter. We fostered you for all of 10 minutes and suddenly you had a name and became part of our family. With your scrawny neck too thin to hold up your head, the badly docked tail and abandoned, you looked a sorry sight, but you had the kindest eyes and the softest neck and big heart.
You took a while to believe that we would not abandon you how you once were by people around Christmas. You had separation anxiety and remodelled furnishings if we left you for too long; even having all your siblings with you made no difference. We never minded and thanks to you, we had many newer versions of things, like sewing machine cables, trailer couplings and many more …
You have always had a mind of your own and chose your own routes and paths on walks and in life … As you got older you made sure you kept to your own pace, claimed your senior privileges and spent plenty time sniffing and stopping on our many walks.
I hope you had a really good life with us and you have certainly given us endless joy. I am glad you could come with us to the seaside for holidays and even after your bad spell with your kidneys some years back you gave us extra time with you. I have enjoyed your company with great love and especially liked the times we could walk together with Shumba, Bali and you and for the past two years with you, Bali and your brother, Bonesie. Thank you for making him welcome here and helping him fit in, teaching him and loving him too. You don’t know how these walks kept me sane and moving forward.
I’ll remember you always and your beautiful, kind eyes. Farewell my Myki, thank you for a great life you shared with us my friend, be well now and go and run with Shumba, Ben and Java over the Rainbow Bridge, join all the others and be happy.
Love Dad
