{"id":1356,"date":"2005-03-28T10:21:39","date_gmt":"2005-03-28T15:21:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/amynews.com\/?p=1365"},"modified":"2015-10-08T17:36:35","modified_gmt":"2015-10-08T21:36:35","slug":"goodbye-friend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amynews.com\/2005\/03\/goodbye-friend\/","title":{"rendered":"Goodbye Friend"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Indy03.jpg\"<\/p>\n

I remember when Ex and I got Indy,<\/p>\n

Just after we were married and had moved into our first house.<\/p>\n

It was total good fortune.<\/p>\n

I had been wanting a dog really bad,<\/p>\n

And we had been talking about getting one.<\/p>\n

I wanted another sheltie.<\/p>\n

So when my mom found someone she knew that had one male left from a litter of shelties,<\/p>\n

I thought we had it made …<\/p>\n

And called right away all excited about finally getting my dog.<\/p>\n

But when I called,<\/p>\n

I found that the last sheltie,<\/p>\n

Had already found a home.<\/p>\n

I was bummed,<\/p>\n

But left my name and number for future reference just in case.<\/p>\n

Ex was excited about getting a puppy too,<\/p>\n

And that weekend we did some serious puppy searching.<\/p>\n

Though nothing really bonded with us,<\/p>\n

Nothing felt like our puppy.<\/p>\n

So we decided to sleep on it and agreed we would make the decision Monday after work,<\/p>\n

At which time we would go and pick up the puppy on which we decided.<\/p>\n

So on a very sunny Monday evening,<\/p>\n

Ex and I left the house and were getting into the car …<\/p>\n

When we heard the phone inside the house ringing.<\/p>\n

Now,<\/p>\n

I’m not sure what possessed either of us to even think about going back into the house to answer the phone,<\/p>\n

But I remember looking at Ex standing on the other side of the car,<\/p>\n

And her saying …<\/p>\n

“Better go and try to get it.<\/i>”<\/p>\n

So with the keys already in my hand,<\/p>\n

I made it back in the house and picked up the phone just as the answering machine kicked on to take a message.<\/p>\n

It was the lady who I had called earlier about the sheltie my mom had tracked down …<\/p>\n

Apparently the family that took the sheltie had just returned him because their daughter turned out to be allergic to him,<\/p>\n

And they wanted to know if we’d be interested in him still.<\/p>\n

I checked with Ex and she thought we should at least check him out …<\/p>\n

I think both of us were suspecting fate was playing a hand there.<\/p>\n

So after getting some directions,<\/p>\n

We headed west towards the lakeshore.<\/p>\n

To this day,<\/p>\n

I have no phreaking clue where we ended up …<\/p>\n

As we took one country side road after another.<\/p>\n

But eventually we found the place,<\/p>\n

Got out of the car …<\/p>\n

And saw this giant sheltie nose with four legs chasing another sheltie in the front yard.<\/p>\n

The owners came out of the house and said “hi<\/i>” to us …<\/p>\n

At which point the giant sheltie nose with four legs stopped chasing the other sheltie and turned towards us.<\/p>\n

It’s then that we noticed that it wasn’t a giant sheltie nose with four legs,<\/p>\n

But a sheltie puppy !!!! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Ex bent down and immediately the sheltie puppy ran towards her and into her arms.<\/p>\n

We knew at once we had found the puppy we wanted.<\/p>\n

Indiana Jones Lando Calrissian.<\/p>\n

Indy to his friends. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

That was 16 years ago.<\/p>\n

Recently,<\/p>\n

I had to put Indy to sleep.<\/p>\n

It was sooooo hard.<\/p>\n

As regular viewers know …<\/p>\n

Indy’s health had been in decline.<\/p>\n

Though for his age,<\/p>\n

He was amazingly frisky and young in attitude.<\/p>\n

A month ago he started having a couple bad days in succession.<\/p>\n

And on those days I’d carry him outside to do his thing,<\/p>\n

Then carry him back into the house,<\/p>\n

Making sure he was as comfy as he could be.<\/p>\n

In the middle of the night when he woke me up for reasons I couldn’t quite figure out …<\/p>\n

I’d crawl on the floor with a blanket where he’d lay next to me and rest his head on my arm,<\/p>\n

Only then would he fall back asleep.<\/p>\n

A couple of weeks ago he had several bad days in a row,<\/p>\n

So I made an appointment with the vet to see if there were any new drugs we could give him.<\/p>\n

Then of course,<\/p>\n

The day before I was to take him into the vet,<\/p>\n

He seemed to be making a recovery.<\/p>\n

I took him in anyways so the vet could at least run some tests,<\/p>\n

And hopefully tell me it was nothing.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately,<\/p>\n

When I got the call later in the day,<\/p>\n

It wasn’t good.<\/p>\n

I took him home that night from the vet,<\/p>\n

So Ex could come over and see him.<\/p>\n

We both agreed we didn’t want him to suffer in pain,<\/p>\n

And if the latest round of meds didn’t help him,<\/p>\n

We’d make the tough decision.<\/p>\n

Sadly,<\/p>\n

The meds didn’t seem to do a thing,<\/p>\n

And his health continued to worsen,<\/p>\n

Considerably.<\/p>\n

So later that week …<\/p>\n

I did what I had to do.<\/p>\n

I’d been crying off and on for the few days prior …<\/p>\n

Knowing the inevitable.<\/p>\n

On one hand,<\/p>\n

I wasn’t about to let my puppy suffer in pain,<\/p>\n

And I knew he had a great, great long life,<\/p>\n

But it still makes one cry knowing how much they are going to miss someone.<\/p>\n

At least it makes me cry.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately,<\/p>\n

Sometimes you have to do hard things for those you love.<\/p>\n

So there I was,<\/p>\n

Carrying him to the car,<\/p>\n

And putting him in the front passenger seat where he always rode.<\/p>\n

He knew what was going down,<\/p>\n

And was ready.<\/p>\n

Along the way,<\/p>\n

We talked some,<\/p>\n

I cried some,<\/p>\n

We were silent some.<\/p>\n

When I got to the vet,<\/p>\n

The same one I’ve gone to all these years,<\/p>\n

One of the staff quickly walked me into a waiting examination room for some needed privacy,<\/p>\n

And a few more moments with Indy.<\/p>\n

I asked her to take a picture of us,<\/p>\n

Which she did.<\/p>\n

And after I showed it to Indy,<\/p>\n

He quickly offered it as proof that he was right all along …<\/p>\n

I’m scary-ass ugly when I’m crying !! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Then right on time the doctor came in,<\/p>\n

Caringly explained what was going to transpire,<\/p>\n

And gave Indy a shot to put him to sleep.<\/p>\n

He then left Indy and me alone for some final minutes.<\/p>\n

I kissed him a bunch on his nose.<\/p>\n

Indy that is,<\/p>\n

Not the vet. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

In those final minutes,<\/p>\n

I kissed him.<\/p>\n

Hugged him.<\/p>\n

Talked with him.<\/p>\n

The same things I’ve done with him his entire life.<\/p>\n

Only this time I gave him some parting instructions …<\/p>\n

“Go find Leia and you two have some fun. But both of you had better keep an eye on me, we all know I definitely need it.<\/i>”<\/p>\n

A few seconds later he slumped down.<\/p>\n

It’s been a couple of weeks now …<\/p>\n

And I’m happy he’s no longer in pain,<\/p>\n

But gawd do I ever miss him.<\/p>\n

Sixteen years.<\/p>\n

That’s a long time !<\/p>\n

I was so lucky to have him that long.<\/p>\n

Heck,<\/p>\n

He was my buddy before I even started law school,<\/p>\n

Before I met Shaft, and …<\/p>\n

When I still thought I could beat the transsexual thing through shear denial.<\/p>\n

So, so long ago.<\/p>\n

As when Leia passed,<\/p>\n

I’m still finding myself …<\/p>\n

By habit,<\/p>\n

Thinking of Indy:<\/p>\n

That I have to get home soon or he’ll be pissed at me,<\/p>\n

Ordering fries for him at Wendy’s when I get my salad, or<\/p>\n

Starting to talk to him while at home forgetting that he’s not right at my feet.<\/p>\n

It’ll continue to happen for a while,<\/p>\n

I’m sure.<\/p>\n

I hate losing friends.<\/p>\n

Especially ones that like me ! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

And now,<\/p>\n

For one of the very few times in my life,<\/p>\n

I don’t have a puppy:<\/p>\n

To take care of,<\/p>\n

Or hug when I need a hug.<\/p>\n

So do us a favor …<\/p>\n

Each and every one of you that have a pup or kitten,<\/p>\n

Give them a hug tonight for Indy and me ! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

And remember,<\/p>\n

16 years can go mighty fast !!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I remember when Ex and I got Indy, Just after we were married and had moved into our first house. It was total good fortune. I had been wanting a dog really bad, And we had been talking about getting one. I wanted another sheltie. So when my mom found someone she knew that had…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[139],"tags":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":139,"label":"General"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":{"display_name":"Amy","author_link":"https:\/\/amynews.com\/author\/amy\/"},"comment_info":28,"category_info":[{"term_id":139,"name":"General","slug":"general","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":143,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":775,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":139,"category_count":775,"category_description":"","cat_name":"General","category_nicename":"general","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1356"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/amynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1356\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}