I remember when I was 8 or so years old an my mom brought home a beautiful baby boy…a puppy that is! He was perfect! He was my new best friend. I couldn’t love him more. We lived every moment together and loved each others company. In about 2008-2009 he started showing bizarre symptoms. Extreme dandruff, excessive water intake. After months of testing they came to a horrifying conclusion: Cushing’s Disease.It was one of the hardest days of my life and at first my parents couldn’t even tell me because they could imagine the devastation I would face. When I found out, I didn’t get it because he wasn’t acting differently then dopey-old-Rosco ever had. But as time went by and about a year and a half passed, it became clear that his fate couldn’t be changed. No amount of praying or money could change that. He deteriorated fast from January 2011. I saw my baby dying and couldn’t do anything. Every time I had to go to school I knew it was possible it was the last time I would see him. On Tuesday May 31, 2011 the day after Memorial Day Weekend I left for school but something was different. Instead of saying ‘I’ll see you later’, I said ‘I’ll love you forever’. That night when I came home he was forever gone. As I walked in the driveway my dad pulled in and looked at me teary eyed and said “There was nothing else we could do.”” I dropped my backpack and just walked. Through the pouring rain on that seemingly endless way. Then a new thought came. I should be relieved. Happy for him perhaps that now his problems were gone and nothing can touch him anymore. He will forever be in my heart and his “”baby”” (his bear) will sit forever next to my bed as I sleep. He knows we love him. And my only regret is not being in the room holding his delicate paw as he passed. He was scared and alone that day but it was filled with love for him as everyone who ever knew him grieved. He now gets to play with my Grandma, Taylor, Max, Meeko, Alex, Sam and all the fallen heroes. He was strong. Still is. He didn’t go before memories were made. He changed my life and I have a new appreciation for how fast life can be whisked away.When I am upset I write and after he passed I held his bear and wrote this:
| Rosco |
| Ali |