Your First Dog...

So I met my best friend sitting on the stairs of my dorm (Peabody Hall) in 1997...she followed me to my class - right into the building...and I decided to take her home.  We just connected...so much so that it didn't seem unreasonable for me to pay for her boarding for three months, having only known her three days, so that I could find a place to live that would accept her.  When I picked her up from the vet she was staying at she ran directly over to me - with only three days of memory of me.  I took her to her new vet and asked him to pick a birthday for her and without knowing me he chose my birthday!  Out of all 365 days!  She and I were just meant to be together...matching personalities, tough and scrappy when we needed to be, stubborn, and under it all intensely sensitive and kind.  We saw each other through sicknesses, through the building of lives and their destruction and rebuilding... We made many friends together, we lost a few together... We hiked and we watched Friends compulsively together...we ate delicious things together (though we defined delicious very differently) and helped each other to get through whatever was going on for us.  For a long time I believed that we wouldn't be able to exist without one another... I'm certain that we saved each other's lives a number of times... As years went on and I tried to hold the reality that she wasn't going to live forever, I started to believe that once I had a baby she would see that I had what I wanted and allow herself to begin to age...and it seemed to be true.  You were born and she allowed a distance from me that she never had before...she seemed to understand that she couldn't get very close to you in the very beginning, and started coming closer and closer as the milestones you hit made it appropriate.  You were fascinated by her from the start (of your being able to really see) and she helped you want to crawl, helped you want to walk, "dog" was even your first word... The first pattern in schedule that I saw you follow involved her - you waited for her to come to the stairs before you would go up... you waited at the top for her calling her until she followed... You chose to begin chores involving her - bringing me her water bowl every morning for me to fill, you held doors open for her when she went out, and called her back in when she took a long time.  You learned "gentle" petting her...and she sat patiently allowing you to gradually reign in your hitting her hello to a soft pat.  She raised us both little man... We're gonna miss her like crazy...

A (large) collection of pictures of you and our Peabody...