There have been 3 special fur babies in my life. The first one arrived when I was 11 years old and stayed until I was 24. That’s a large span of a girl’s life. She was Winkie, the first Wire Fox Terrier in my life. She was there thru every happy day or heartbreak. She understood it all and loved me so unconditionally. She came into my room in the morning before daylight to sleep on my bed and jumped up when I began to get ready for school. Years later, after moving home with my parents as a young adult, she repeated the same ritual. She was loving and also very comical. Once we found her standing on top of a lovely table set for guests, eating a stick of butter. She was also found with one eye up to a keyhole spying on someone outside. It was one of the saddest days in my life to lose her to cancer. However, I had loved her well and she I.
The next fur baby came to me in the soft brown coat of a beagle mix after I had married. My husband brought her home to me one cold night. I really hadn’t wanted a dog and remarked that “someone” would give this nice little dog a home. Well, that someone turned out to be me. Boo had the warmest brown eyes and was the most loyal and devoted dog in the world. She never knew she was a dog – just that she was a baby and I was her mama.
Always, when I would drop a pile of warm laundry on the floor to fold, I would find a surprise inside. Boo felt it was part of my job to find her as I folded. She was the only baby I had for the first 11 years of my marriage. At that time, she wasn’t even jealous of my baby daughter who came when Boo was 11. She would nap under Meagan’s crib and would alert me if the baby was awake. The hardest part of my relationship with Boo was having the courage to love her so much I would let her go by easing her suffering. She slipped away at the age of 13,
my trusted and loving friend.
The most recent fur baby to leave my arms was Taffy, another Wire Fox Terrier. Taffy was like no other dog. She was an individual. She had her own ideas about things and would tell you so. I had always wanted her to be a lap dog but she never wanted to be. She did love to be brushed and petted but on her own terms. There were health problems that plagued her from early on. She had seizures, terrible skin allergies and in the end liver disease. In spite of anything, I loved her. I loved her in a manner that God loves us – in spite of ourselves. She brought a responsibility to my life in the form of one of God’s creatures who needed a human. On July 28, 2003 after much medical care and all the love we had, she slipped away from my life. There is such an emptiness in my heart for her. She seems to be everywhere I look. I began telling her about Rainbow Bridge days before she left me.
I told her that Winkie and Boo would be right there waiting for her and that they would all play and run together until I came for them. They are waiting for me there and will run as fast as their legs will carry them when they see me again. These 3 fur babies are a part of God’s creation. I was lucky enough to be their mom in this life.
Always My Babies-
| Winkie, Boo and Taffy |
| Margaret Perry |