|
cherish405 -> RE: A life to cherish (1/20/2006 11:06:57 AM)
|
Tonight we had a get together which kind of doubled as a combined birthday dinner for John and Joan. Things went pretty well. Some couldn't make it as they were sick or had other commitments. We still ended up with 12 people joining us for dinner.
Throughout my life, I've lived with many people. I've never lived alone. Yes there have been times when I've been house sitting or something and I've been alone at those times, but I've never lived on my own for long periods of time. One of the couples who were here tonight had a granny flat out the back of their house. Her mother used to live out there and I lived in the granny flat with the mother for a couple of years before the mother's cancer got really bad.
Until now, I've never been allowed to have pets of my own. My mother was a cat lover and my dad a dog lover. Never the twain shall meet. I really wanted a pet of my own as I grew up. In the end I used to adopt the animals of the people I lived with, and their animals adopted me. The first family that I lived with had a chihuahua named Cleo. She used to frighten me to death in the beginning as if I so much as looked at anything, she'd bark. You wouldn't think that a chihuahua could sound vicious, but she did. In time, Cleo and I really grew on each other. She'd get so excited whenever she saw me, and it got so bad, that the mother of the family told me that Cleo was more my dog than hers. The son was Cleo's absolute favourite, but I was a very close second. I can still remember when the owner called me one night to tell me that Cleo had passed away after being sick. I'd gone with her a couple of days earlier to the vet. That was the last time I saw her.
The couple who came tonight, B & L, are brother and sister in law of Cleo's owner. When I first arrived in Australia, they had a spaniel named Sarah. She was such a gorgeous dog. She loved to run after her tennis balls. They were like her binky. She was so friendly and cuddly. Such a faithful companion. She had to be put down not so long ago as she was just getting sicker and sicker. Sarah had been such an enormous part of my life too. I used to house sit for B & L whilst they went away on holiday and look after Sarah and Kali.
When L's mother and I moved into the granny flat at the back of B & L's backyard, L's mother, D had two jack russell terriers, Russell and Mandy. They were really faithful too. I remember when I started going back to study. They got into the routine that I would be home about 4pm unless my classes finished before then. They couldn't tell the time, but you'd never have known. Every day from 3.30pm, they would be sitting at the door waiting for me to come home. The second year, one day a week, I had classes until 6pm and I wouldn't get home until around 7pm. By the time I got home, they were beside themselves as if they'd been so worried that I wasn't home sooner. They'd both go off and quickly eat something as if they needed the sustainance to make such a fuss of me now that I was home. Mandy would yodel her hello to me. Then they'd line me up so that I could spend some quality play time with them. D made B & L promise her that when her time was coming, that they would have Russ and Mandy put to sleep. D's husband who'd died a few years before, said that if anything happened, he'd like them put to sleep as nobody would be able to understand them the way that they did. After D's passing, L told me that if I'd had somewhere to live where I could have kept Russ and Mandy, she would have given them to me. I would have been the only one that she'd have allowed to take Russ and Mandy. Where I lived at the time though, I would have hated seeing them live there as the family wouldn't have treated them right, even with me living there. They'd had pets on and off over the years and they mistreated them, which was something that I couldn't stand.
Eventually, Sarah got a sister. L and L's daughter J went to the shops one Saturday afternoon to get bread and milk. J came home with a spaniel pup, which she named Kali (Kayley). Sarah didn't know what to make of this new addition to their family. Kali of course was a gorgeous bundle who loved cuddles. As a puppy, she would climb up and lay across my chest and nuzzle into my neck. Over the last couple of years of years, she's had some health problems. This past year, she was diagnosed with heart problems. She hadn't been well earlier this week, but seemed to perk up a bit for a little while. Monday night, L knew that it was time and B had to take her to the vet to be put down. B & L told me tonight. L, obviously is upset, but she couldn't bear to see Kali suffer any more. Every time I think of Kali, I think of her yodelling her version of the family secrets to me every time she saw me, or knew I was there. (She lost her sight due to cataracts in the end). Even without her sight, she knew when I was there. She'd come for her cuddles, and it would be so funny. She was way too big, but there were times when I think she thought she was still a puppy and would try to snuggle like she did way back when she first came home from the pet shop. She'd have flattened me trying! Whenever she saw me cry, she would lick my tears away. I sure am going to miss that little girl.
Even though Cleo, Russ, Mandy, Sarah and Kali weren't mine, I loved them like they were. Instead of that song about, "For All The Girls I've Loved Before", I'd change the phrase to, "For all the dogs I've loved before". I don't know if I'll ever see them again, and I don't want to start a debate in Theology about it, but there's a part of me that hopes I'll get to see my faithful companions again one day.
|
|
|
|