Bella Dingo by Robert / Papa

MY BELLA,

You were a handful as a pup. I had even considered giving you up. At 3 months old you ate my surround sound while I was at work. When I came in I was so mad. But when you saw me you were so glad. Ahh that smile, I had never seen a dog smile. You helped make me the man I am as silly as that sounds. You’ve been gone a week today and it has been the longest week I have ever known.. A semi. Yours was a fast and brutal death, and my pain was no less. You were my best friend for eight years, a quarter of my life. At six months you got parvo and I prayed and begged everyone I know to help me save your life.

My prayers were answered in heaven as well as earth. My grandfather, great lover of dogs that he was, loaned me $1200.00 to pay the vet who told me you had a 10% chance to live. You had a will to live that beat any odds. Oh how I loved you already then. “GOD PLEASE GIVE ME MORE TIME WITH HER.” I begged him. The vet said euthanize you you would likely die and if you didn’t you would never be the same playful dog you were. With tears streaming down my face then as they are now I told the vet to do whatever it takes to fix you. You were there for four days when the vet called me up, and even then I didn’t want to take the call. “Mr. Tomlinson.” he said in a Sholom voice that doctors seem to be born with, then with enthusiasm he said, “I think she is going to pull thru.” after 3 more days I received the call. “She is weak but she has beat it. She will need a lot of attention.” Parvo is a terrible disease. From what little knowledge I have of it it affects the intestines, basically destroying them. The doc told me you could eat very little of a special food he gave me..I was to give you 1tbsp every 2 hours for a week.

I took a week off of work and did as the vet said although I was cussed and ridiculed at my job.They told me you were only a dog but you were so much more. The man who came up with the saying unconditional love had to be a dog lover. I am now 32 years old and have been in a few serious relationships, but people can be cruel end we do bad things to each other. A dog will love you no matter what. Everyday when I came home I was greeted with a smile and a love that could only be compared with that of a mother. I will never forget when I moved back home. With in 2 days you found my niece’s basketball. You rolled that thing around the yard for an hour chasing it, steering it like a pro soccer player. I was so amused I laughed until I cried. You chased balls like that for the rest of you life. I had many friends that latter saw that and said I should record that and send it to America’s funniest videos. Oh how I wish I had recorded it.

For eight years you filled a void I never know I had. And maybe it wasn’t a void, more like a fault line I never knew was there. Well the plates have shifted and my heart is broken in to. My friends see the sadness in my eyes and try to help me cope. MY Bella I will never forget you. I love you so much. I have so much more to say but the words blur my vision and my thoughts. I will remember you always.

 

"You'll be with me always, MY Bella girl.
"