The Life and Death of a Family Friend …..and Some Lessons Learned

Sasha joined our family on September 7, 2001 after I lost the battle with my strong willed, then 7 year old, daughter Martha. We’d been visiting the local shelters for a month looking for a young dog, NOT a puppy. I knew we’d “know” when we found our dog. Martha pushed and prodded for us to just look at this one puppy she’d discovered. Big ears, big feet, covered in poop and those speckled socks that never ceased to charm all who met her, I picked up this 4 month old Australian Shepherd mix who immediately leaned in to me, laid her head on my shoulder and my heart melted.

14 ½ years later my heart is melting again as we bid our dear friend farewell.

Sasha had been rescued from a barn at 6 weeks but this “kill” shelter didn’t follow protocol knowing that July and August are slow months for placing animals and that she was special, that she would find her forever home.

 

From the beginning she was always where the family was, sometimes inconveniently in the bathroom, and remained slim and trim from herding dogs and kids at the park and following everyone up and down stairs multiple times a day until she couldn’t.

 

She loved her excursions to the woods in West VA and the beach. She loved the car until she didn’t when she could no longer get in on her own.

 

 

But we got one last fun visit to the beach where she ran on the beach forgetting for a bit her failing legs.

She never met a person or a dog she didn’t like. She greeted all with a wagging tail, a sniff and a kiss.

 

 

At 7 she was hit by a car in front of our house. It was my fault. I was talking to a neighbor across the street and Sasha darted across the street to say hello as well. Several ruptured organs, several surgeries (don’t ask the cost, it was money well spent) but she made a full recovery with the caveat that this type of traumatic injury would shorten her life. She had another healthy 7 years, comfortable and fully ambulatory until she wasn’t. First the hearing went, then the vision, then the back legs, then the will to make the trips upstairs to sleep by our bed or to get in the car.

We have been preparing for this day since September when she couldn’t stand on her own. With the help of steroids, she has had a comfortable and good, not great, 5 months but steroids wreak havoc on one’s hormones and liver. This week we knew the time had come to say goodbye.

Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.” Dr. Seuss

I have been blessed by her presence. We all need a dog to teach us a few lessons to make us better people, better parents, better friends. Patience (with unruly kittens and toddlers), Loyalty (always waiting at the door), Forgiveness (“All is Forgiven, I Still Love You” her beautiful brown eyes always said to me, even when I’d acted out in frustration or anger), Play (work is overrated, play ball and have some fun, play with our wonderful mailman Louis who patiently put one letter at a time through the mail slot for her to grab but never destroy) and, of course, Love.

Unable are the loved to die for love is immortality.” Emily Dickinson

 Our pets provide some of the happiest moments in our lives and their unconditional love and loyalty ease us through some of our unhappiest moments. 14 years in a family are an awful lot of ups and downs, wins and losses and transitions and milestones. A four legged friend makes them all better, easier, happier or less painful and I am grateful for each one she shared with us.

Don’t grieve. Anything you lose comes round in another form.” Rumi, 13th c Persian poet & theologian

I am grateful that we did not have to make a final car ride, that our gentle and kind vet came to us so that our sweet Sasha drifted away peacefully in the home she has so enriched.

 The song is ended but the melody lingers on.” Irving Berlin