To My Dogs: A Love Letter

This one’s for my dogs.  Two huge pieces of my heart.  I love to believe that they need me more than I need them.  On paper, what we have seems unbalanced-almost parasitic.  It seems like a lot to give.  There’s the food, there’s the long walks in the rain, the snow and the biting wind.  There’s the sleepless nights of wailing, barking and crying.  There’s the thousand dollar vet visits.  But it’s nothing.  It’s a small price to pay for the love of a dog.  For that small simple moment when you feel you’re just about to lose it and you’re met with two of the sweetest, most pleading eyes you can imagine.  There’s no talking needed, no reassurance or soothing.  Just a look, and ocassionally a stretch…the kind that starts with a crawl up your legs and evolves into a full-length 30 second love-fest.  I can’t thank you enough.

I think the real strength of my love for you comes from the fleeting length of time you’ll be in my life.  I’ve said a million times how I wish you’d be here til I’m old.  So that we could be old together.  You in your doggie diapers and me in my depends.  What a sight.  But you know what? I’m forced to savour every moment.  To make each second-even the bad ones-count. Because when you’re gone I’ll miss it all.  Every last frustrating moment.  And I know I’ll wish for a year’s worth of barking at joggers, poops on my carpet and chewed shoes to have just one more cuddle.

I’m convinced that the bond between a dog and his owner is supernatural.  There can be no other explanation for the depth of understanding that happens between two species so vastly different.  No other relationship seems to inspire so much selflessness, so much tireless dedication.  I thank God for the gift that you are to me Quincy and Pearl.  I thank God that you tolerate me and my constant clumsy attempts to know you.  I can only hope you’ll continue to fill in the blanks and to meet me where I am.  Here’s to you.  Here’s to all the memories we haven’t made and all the ones we have.