Saturday, March 26, 2011

Is a dog ever just a dog?


The last two days I have been participating in class called Awaken with my church. There was about 40 of us going through our lives looking at how out past hurts have shaped us to who we are today. I've been through this process before and have always been able to see how different difficult situations in my life have molded me. Last night as I began looking at my "life map" I began focusing on one particular painful experience. The death of my dog Argos.

Argos passed away in Nov 2006 from Leukemia, I was 26. Her death was one of the hardests losses I've ever experienced. She was so much more than just a dog to me. I got her when I was 17 yrs old, her and I were inseprable, we were partners, she went most everywhere with me. For a long time she was the only living being I trusted.

The day put her down we were sitting in the exam room at the Vet with the dr who gave her to me. He and my parents talked about how much I needed her for those 9 yrs of my life. I needed her far more than she needed me.

I talked it out with a friend of mine today, trying to figure out how Argos' death molded my life. We came to the realization that her death was a significant shift in my life. At the time of her death, I handed my trust from her and me agianst the world to trusting Daniel as my partner. He and I were engaged just weeks after her death.

Thinking about Argos got me to thinking about Basho. It took 3 yrs for me to get to a place where I was ready for another dog. I love Basho, he's the perfect family dog. I look forward to seeing Imogen grow up playing with her puppy Basho. He's become a great addition to our family. He's a great little backpacking buddy, and we've enjoyed taking him on family vacations.

But as I got to thinking about him today I realized that my relationship with Basho is very different than my relationship with Argos was. It's like, he's just a dog. Argos was my partner, Basho is our family dog. I love him, but he's different. I got to thinking about Imogen. Reality is, he will probably mean a lot more to her than he does to us. Basho will be Imogen's big brother, her best friend. Chances are Basho will help her learn to walk, he'll sit there and listen to her while she reads him books, they'll probably fight over toys and even take naps together.

Basho and Argos are nothing a like (except in color). They both will have served very different purposes in my life, special in their own way. No two memories of them will be the same. I hope we are blessed to have Basho for many years to come. I can't wait to see the relationship between Imogen and Basho unfold.

2 comments:

  1. i remember Argos as a puppy, Basho is vastly different, but remember how you said Xander's death would effect Keziah and Nathan... so Basho's will effect Imogen's

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  2. Yeah, I keep thinking about that. My little girl will loose her BFF when she's still just a little girl. it's a sad thought. But she will LOVE him while she has him.

    I remember Argos and Java raising hell at the randells :-)

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