The Bonds We Forge

Posted: 26th April 2017 by admin in Blog
Tags: , , , , ,
Ahem. Me-me-me-me-me. Ahem.
“People let me tell you ’bout my best friend…”
Yyyeaah, lemme tell you about my buddy Zach. He once ate an entire box of dry Cream of Wheat. I wouldn’t let him drink anything because I was afraid he’d blow up. During his awkward teenaged years, he got tangled in my feet on the stairs and knocked me down, breaking my tailbone. He thought it was great fun when we landed on the floor at the bottom of the steps in a heap and he jumped away and jumped back as if to say, “Hey, let’s do that again!” I had to sit on an orthopedic doughnut for about three months. (Ok, occasionally I did wear it on my head. There are photos. Don’t ask.) He once raided the luggage of a house guest and ate her Welbutrin. He slept for three days. I had to wake him up to take him out to pee. He once chased my pet rabbit around the basement in a circle, faster and faster, until the bunny went running up the ramp into his cage, and Zach followed, getting his head and shoulders stuffed through the door before coming to a screeching halt, nose to nose with said bunny and wedged so tightly that neither one of them could move. I was surprised Smudge didn’t have a heart attack.
 
This guy was smart like a box of rocks. Whenever I called the vet with his latest adventure, I had to wait for him to stop laughing before he could answer my question.
 
I thought I would lose my mind before he was two.
 
Then came the days following my brother’s death when I could barely get through a day without breaking down. Zach would climb up on the couch beside me and drape his giant orange head over mine and just breathe with me for hours and I listened to his heart beat until those days passed. Apparently dogs know how to hold space.
 
Good boy, Zacharoo. Good boy.
 
“People let me tell you ’bout my best friend…”
Zach was with me until two weeks shy of his 15th birthday, an impressive feat for a 100 lb Golden Retriever. On his last morning, we celebrated with Frosty Paws and a visit to his favorite fire hydrant and a nap on his blanket in the yard with the sun shining. When he took the shot, I held his head in my hands and breathed with him, wanting him to know I was right there, just as he had been for me. That was this morning, a warm April day in 2006.
 
Sometimes I think I can still hear his heartbeat.
Zach and me
  1. Nancy Carlson says:

    OMG. Beautiful, loving, sad.

    Sent from my iPad

    >

  2. Deborah Frank says:

    Those aren’t tears…my eyes are red from allergies. Yeah, that’s it…allergies. Loved that big guy. Love you more.

  3. Thank you! Our lives are so much richer with them!

  4. Love you back, Dr. Frank. And thank you for loving him with me!

  5. joanneeddy says:

    Perfect picture of Zack and very like several of the dogs I have loved and who have loved me totally with every bit of their hearts and breath and tails. So, of course, I am crying.

  6. susan francis says:

    Oh my. I felt every word. Soooooooo loving.

  7. They DO love with every bit of their hearts! We are so lucky.

  8. I would have 15 years with him again in an eye blink.

You must be logged in to post a comment.