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| Zane on the Left Zoey on the right |
Since the beginning, before Mama Bear was Mama Bear and back when I was Just a Dizzy Guy and not Just a Dizzy Dad, we had these two knuckleheads as faithful friends and as our family mascots.
It feels like an eternity has passed since they found us.
Mama Bear and I were young. They were young and healthy, and we were all happy.
Then, gradually, things started changing, but they were always there, always waiting for us when we stepped through the door.
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| Zane and I being all younger and shiz |
They were there celebrating with us when Mama Bear and I married. They calmed us and reassured us during Mama Bear's application process to graduate school. They helped us move into our home when we bought it. Zane even helped me study when I finally went to undergrad.
Then came even bigger changes and challenges, the birth of our sons, and we depended on our mascots to comfort us and calm all of our anxieties. They reassured us that we could handle it and just about anything else that came our way
Our mutts, Zane and Zoey, have been with Mama Bear and I for almost our entire adult lives, helping us along.
Now, they have just one more task, helping us say "Good Bye."
It will be strange for all of us to wake up or come home and not have them there to greet us. The boys never knew life without them.
This is some pretty hard shit to write.
Like most people, I suck at good bye's, and no matter how much practice I get, it never gets easier.
It's never simple.
I find myself reminiscing and remembering the very first days and trying to convince myself it isn't time yet.
But, they're ready, and I mustn't selfishly keep holding on.
Zoey, was a ragamuffin we stumbled across at the SPCA.
She was filthy, malnourished, completely untrained, and perfect for us.
She was so ragged that Mama Bear and I both thought she was a much older dog than she was.
She had just had a litter of pups, and the family that fostered her didn't recognize the symptoms of pregnancy. They thought she was just getting fat, so they starved the poor girl.
When we took her home she was nothing but skin and bones. We nursed her back to health, trained her, cleaned her, put the poor dogger through two hip surgeries, loved her, and for 12 years she's been a dear friend to us.
12 Years!
Boy, would we be unbelieving if on day one, in 2001, you would have told us she would live to see us through college, a house of our own, the birth of two brats, and make it to see beyond the drop of the ball in 2013.
That's a lot of miles and milestones!
Zane was another hard luck case.
You wouldn't believe it, but when brought him home in 2001 to stay forever, he was little more than fur.
A family friend found him abandoned in a field with another puppy. They were both malnourished, but Zane was the worse for it. His rear legs were weak, and he relied on his front legs to get around.
Our friend took the puppies to a different SPCA, where they placed them next to a dog that they suspected had parvo, a death sentence to already weakened puppies.
So, much like we did with Zoey, we brought the two ragamuffins home with us, nursed them to health, and loved them.
We found Zane's sister a home and decided to keep Zane because we couldn't bear to part with him. Who doesn't fall in love with a hard luck case they nursed back to health?
Well, we kept him for that reason and because no one else we knew would want a dog that had constant bladder problems because it wasn't developed properly from the malnutrition.
Anyway, we kept him, we fixed him up, we put him through a hip surgery to relieve some of the pain from his hip dysplasia, and we have loved him for the past 12 years.
Now, Mama Bear, the boys, and I have to face what all pet owners must face.
We have to let our dearest friends go on their way, and go on with out them.
Zane and Zoey, you both were always more than pets. You are both loved, and I hope that you both know it.
Thank you for the years you have devoted to us.
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