My sweet Natasha went to heaven about 6 weeks ago and I still miss her and think about her. I think about her whenever I look out the kitchen window and expect to see her waiting for me wagging her tail looking anxious for our morning walks. If I do anything outside, I keep thinking Natasha would have enjoyed this; from taking the garbage cans to the corner - she just seemed to know Wednesday night was the time and would run freely to the corner and back while we hauled our cans there, to mowing the front lawn where she would find a pine cone to chew on while I pushed the mower around the yard, to watering the front yard while she chased rabbits throughout the neighborhood. But it was mostly the walks, she would go around the block with me every morning. She was as much my inspiration for losing 40 pounds over the last 2 years as anything else, I just knew how disappointed she would be if we did not go. We started slow and short together traveling around 1 block that would take about 30 minutes to finally extending ourselves around several blocks to the tune of 1 hour. In the end, her and I were back to the one block in 25 minutes or so - that was all her sweet body could do although she always looked longing at the corner hoping to go further.
Don't judge me because my dogs were outside dogs, it was how I was raised - our dogs had a comfortable, warm home in their kennel. Bingo, Lady Anne, Patrick and Coco all lived in the kennel and were happy to wait for us to let them out to play with them during my growing up years. Bingo, a black lab, from my younger years. Lady Anne, was my brother Greg's beagle - he saved and bought her with his own money after being inspired by "Where the Red Fern Grows", all our favorite book growing up - my mom would read it to each of us at just the right time in our lives, I recall gathering around the couch listening to her reading to us. Patrick, was our cute German Shepard, bad eyesight and all. We would stand behind a pole and call him to us, he came right away and bam would run right into the pole. He came every time, trusting us to be there, dependable. Coco was a mix - thought to be part coyote because his mom was a ranch dog and he had the leanness of a coyote. Coco was with us the longest and was my dad's daily walking companion. Dad would call for him "Coco, you ole hound dog you." Our dogs were just part of my life.
As an adult, we had Primo, Jewel and Natasha. Primo was our first pet for Anthony and Aimee although he stayed outside, the whole backyard was his play place. Primo (sorry to say was probably one of the least intelligent dogs I know), but he was loved. Primo was part afghan hound and part golden retriever, one of the biggest dogs I have ever known with the height of his dad and the size of his mom. Primo was our children's horse; riding on his back was attempted regularly. Jewel and Natasha came a couple years after Primo. Craig had always wanted a border collie and a friend at work had rescued two sisters from a guy who was just giving them away outside a store. We took our family over to see them and knew we were going to take one home, but we just couldn't separate them so we brought home two puppies. Supposedly paper trained, trained to rip the paper up was really what they were. A kennel was set up and the home was built (insulated by Craig). Aimee named Jewel and Anthony named Natasha. Jewel was full of fluff, and Natasha was skinny but definitely the dominant one. I believe if someone would have told me how energetic border collies were, I am not sure I would have brought either home, they did not mature out of the puppy stage for several years.
There was even a moment when we thought we can't keep both dogs because they would fight over each bone, even if they had their own. Sisters! Jewel and Natasha moved with us to California and loved getting the whole backyard for themselves. They loved poking their noses out underneath the gate looking forward to us as we drove up the driveway.
Walking 2 dogs around my neighborhood established me a few friends and enlisted many a comment about beautiful dogs. Jewel was attacked by a neighbor's dog once and Natasha was right there trying to defend her sister, rivals perhaps at one time but would give their all to protect the other or us. Jewel was hit by a car several years ago when she broke off her leash. It saddened all of us, Craig stayed home for several hours before going to work to be with me, he called Anthony at BYU to go share the news with Aimee and be there to give comfort as needed. We still have her collar too. This time around with Natasha, I called Nate to make sure he was home for Aimee and he broke the news to her. I made the hard phone calls to Anthony and Craig too.
Last Christmas, we were all together as a family. Aimee and Nate brought their lab, Aspen, too. Nate, Aimee, Natasha, Aspen, Craig and I all went to the Del Mar dog beach one afternoon. Natasha was young again running around in the water and on the beach, what a glorious day for her and us.
Natasha was so loyal, she didn't want to leave us. We knew she had been going blind, she had been deaf for a few years - at first we thought she was just being disobedient because she didn't come when called - she had always had a act now, ask forgiveness later attitude. Her hip started giving out on her on our walks; causing her to collapse a few times. Down she would go and was unable to get up, she would just look back at her legs and wonder why aren't they moving. On her last night with us, she wanted to be with us and tried to get to us. We just carried her close and than told her it was okay, it was okay to go. She reunited with her sister that night. All dogs go to heaven, you know.
2 comments:
So Sweet!
So sweet mom. I loved reading this. Made me cry. Miss those sweet girls
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