1988 —— 2000
This is a beautiful story of love and companionship.
Just a week ago I had to put to sleep my best friend for 12 years – Picholina.
Kind of a funny name.. but there is a story behind it.
The first time I came across Picho – pronunced “peecho” some of my
American friends thought that Picho’s name was actually
Peaches.. but it was not. My dad Alberto – Italian with a very
bad memory.. he can hardly remember his kid’s names…
when he saw this little dog and we were looking for a name…
he wanted to name her like the famous Italian prostitute turned
senator “Cicciolina” .. but of course he couldn’t remember so..
Picciolina came out .. it stuck and that was it.
Picho was a very happy and loving dog. She was smart and loved
to go outs on walks. My mom had passed away only two years ago,
when we found her. We are a very small family here in the US and
when Picho came to our lives she brought us even closer.
When I was away on business Picho would go home to Granpa ( My Dad)
and keep him company until I came back.
With kids Picho was great – always gentle and with butterfly Kisses..
Playing around with her little bear (osito) and catching lizzards
( I always tried to get her away from that).
Any time I would come back from my travels I would call my father,
and he would tell picho “mom is coming home” ..
from that moment onward Picho would be jumping around in joy
and waiting for me by the window.
I’ve never experienced love like this.
Complete surrender… I can still seeher smiling face her paws and
fill her little kisses… belly up totally in heaven just because
mommy is home. Unconditional love…
I miss her a lot. I miss her little paws going around the house tick tick,
tick – ‘tap dancing’ like the vet used to say. Coming home and getting her
warm welcome. The ‘clink’ ‘clink’ of her tags…
The house feels very big indeed.
I had to put Picho to sleep last Wednesday.
This has been one of the most horrible decisions I had to make in my life.
I didn’t want her to suffer.
I’ve gotten a lot of support from my friends and family… People that also
Picho touched with her loving ways.. I have a book “Dogs Never Lie About
Love”.. in the last chapter there is a quote regarding Dogs having a soul:
” I am not a religious man and I pause before using the word soul but my
experiences with the dogs in my life convince me that there is some profund
essence something about being a dog which corresponds to our notion of an
inner soul the core of our being that makes us most human. In human
animals this core has to do with our ability to reach out and help a member
of another species even when we do not stand to benefit from the other – in
shor to love the other for its own sake. If any species on earth shares this
miraculous ability with us it is the dog for the dog truly loves us sometimes
beyond measure beyond what we deserve more,
indeed that we love ourselves.
I do believe like this author that dogs have souls. Picho’s soul is
somewhere out there… and because of the out pour of support that I received
from my family and friends.. that knew Picho loved her and also knew how
much I loved her.. I know that she is somewhere up there wagging her tail,
with her smiling face looking down at me – and thinking to herself,
she is going to be all right. Her human friends will take of her.
Picho – I miss you.
Love,
Laura.
| Picho |