{ Starlahs Astro Nomicle Delight }
April 28 1987 —– May 2 2000
Shetland Sheepdog (Sheltie)
I was a 5 year old in 1987 and in desperate need of a truly
loving companion. I didn’t know that he could be living next door to me.
The lady next door to us had a bunch of Shetland sheepdog puppies
and everyday I would stick my finger through the fence to pet them.
My parents decided to get me my very own puppy as my own.
A few days later we went next door and my parents told me to pick
out one to take home. I looked at all of them but one caught my eye.
He was very tiny much smaller than his brothers and sisters and he was
sitting patiently across the yard waiting for me to come over there.
I did so and he wouldn’t stop following me after I pet him.
I looked at him and he had the cutest eyebrows – he was a black tan
and white dog and his eyebrows were tan.
We took him home and got his shots and soon we were inseparable.
He got the name “Starlah’s Astro Nomicle Delight” from my parents
and we called him Astro for short.
We would make mud pies together in the backyard and that of course,
would make him all dirty so my mom had to give him a bath almost everyday.
We would wrap him up in a towel and he would fall asleep in our arms.
We did everything together. He was the runt of his litter his full size
was about half the size of a regular Shetland Sheepdog.
When he was 8 during Easter he got into my Easter basket and
ate most of my chocolate out of there. He did not get sick but he sure
had one tummy ache though!
For his 9th birthday we bought him a little cake and gave him a piece.
He sat at the kitchen table with his paws on the table on either sides
of his plate as he ate. He’d always get something on grocery day
and always had people food. We never fed him dog food because
something in it made him sick. He was very spoiled.
We lived in lower Michigan all our lives and when I was 15 and
Astro was 10 we moved to Northern Michigan where I currently live.
Later that year he developed cataracts in his eyes and arthritis in
his hind legs. Right before it would rain he would get sore so I gave him
a children’s tylenol chewable and that would make him feel much better.
When he was 12 he slowly started to deteriorate.
He had a hard time seeing hearing and sometimes walking.
I always liked covering him up in his blankie and I’d curl up in mine and
we would nap together. He was done being a puppy now old and gray
he would get tired very easily. He had a hard time seeing the 2 steps
to jump up them so we carried him in.
Numerous times before that he bumped his mouth into the stair
and he would be babied with an ice cube on his swollen lip
and then a couple of cookies afterwards.
At Easter this year he got his own Easter basket(like every year) and
a few days after that was his 13th birthday.
On Easter we went to my grandma’s for dinner and my aunt
and uncle were very sick with some kind of cold virus and
3 days after his birthday he came down with it.
I got home from a softball game that night and saw him and he
looked very sick. He was coughing up flem (he already had asthma) and he
was sweaty. I felt his head and I knew that something was very wrong.
Living in Northern Michigan we didn’t have a 24-hour vet service
close to us so we relied on cool towels on his head and having him
drink lukewarm water. He wouldn’t eat. I comforted him for about an hour
and then went to bed because I had school the next day.
I had a bad feeling but I let it go because I made myself believe that
he was just going to get better and tomorrow we will curl up
together in our blankets and snooze.
My mom was the last to go to bed and by then he stopped
coughing for the most part. The next morning my dad came in my room
and woke me up and told me Astro passed away during the night.
I didn’t know whether or not to puke or bawl.
I started crying and yelled at God for doing this to me a month before
my 18th birthday and graduation. He died in his sleep.
He looked like he was sleeping his feet were perfectly crossed as
he lied on his side. He wasn’t suffering when he died.
He fell asleep and never woke up. I stayed home from school and
softball that day. While he laid there I laid next to him pet his head stroked his
soft fluffy fur and kissed him one last time before I took him outside.
I kissed him even though I knew this time he wasn’t going to return the kiss.
I cried all day and carried on I didn’t believe it was happening to me.
I had to bury him myself because my dad was going to work and
my mom was heartbroken so I did it to have peace with myself too
I wanted him back so badly heck I still do.
I often feel out of place and alone to the point where sometimes I can
swear my heart is literally ripped in two.
Now it’s almost 3 months since he passed on and yes it still hurts
and I still cry (like now -while I write) but I know deep down he’s much
better in heaven and one day when I die I will see him again.
I have that much to look forward to.
Starlah
| Astro |