My Dashie

Dash came into our lives a couple of weeks before my birthday. He was just 5 months old then. He’s a tan colored, short haired dachshund. He looked so frail and small that’s why we spent quite sometime choosing from different shapes and sizes of dog kennels before we were able to choose the perfect one for him. My vet cousin gave it to me as an advanced birthday gift because I was so depressed when Grizzly, our family dog of 9 years died of ruptured tumor. She was supposedly scheduled for an operation but she died before she was operated upon. I was so devastated. I was crying almost every day. I missed her fetching me from the town houses’ gate every time I get home from work and we would walk together until we were both inside the house already. For 9 years, she’s been very faithful and loyal to us and then one day she was gone. I miss you Grizzly!

Then enter Dash into our mundane existence. Dash was quite a pain in the neck at first. He was very destructive playful. He loved all kinds of cords. From flat iron, refrigerator, rice cooker cords to cell phone chargers, name it and he bit it all. He loved newspapers too. Every Sunday he gets the morning paper and before anyone could read it, he has already torn it into pieces. That’s Dash, he loved annoying each and every one of us but we loved him just the same. It was his 13^th day with us when he got lost. Our maid forgot to lock the gate that’s why he went out and wandered around. I was so sad. I was thinking that we’ll never be able to find him because he’s so gentle and tamed. Anyone would love to have him. My younger brother printed his pictures and placed it on every post that he could get his hands to. We were getting quite hopeless already when a Good Samaritan returned him to us. That was after 13 miserable days without him wrecking the house. We were so happy because the youngest addition to our family has finally got back home. As he grew older, he became less and less of a nuisance. He’s more behaved and matured I should say. But one thing has not changed about him; he was still so sweet and loving. Always jumping at you whether you’re sitting or lying down and letting you scratch him behind his ears. He loved that. My Dashie really fancied that. He would be licking your face and leap at your shoulders to give you some doggie hugs. He was such a sweetie. We were happy for almost three years until I got married and left the house. I can’t let him come with me just yet because I’d be living with my husband and his entire family. I was quite embarrassed to ask them if I could bring my dog with me but I left him a promise. I said we’ll be together again in a couple of months so he has to be a good boy and wait for my return, I’ll just find the right timing to bring the subject of him staying with us. He looked at me with the saddest eyes but when I asked for his paw to shake as a sign of our promise to each other, he still extended it to me. I left him with a heavy heart but I needed to start my own life too and I was left with no choice but to ask my parents to take good care of him while we were apart.

After just a couple of months, he got sickly all of a sudden. He wouldn’t eat or even drink. He grew weaker and weaker. He was brought to the vet but they can’t seem to find what the matter with him was. Until that tragic day last August 28, he just stopped breathing and as if he just willed to die. It broke my heart. I cried for hours thinking that he died of loneliness. I thought that’s the most painful kind of death, to die because of lonesomeness. My Dashie died because he missed me so. I kept on saying “I’m sorry Dash”, “I’m sorry my dear boy”, “I was going to keep my promise but why did you not keep yours?” But it was too late. He’s gone and I can never ever hear him yip his happy yip, feel his sweet kisses and warm hugs, see him jumping up and down or twirl around when he was chasing his tail and see the contentment on his face every time I scratch his ears. I can never touch his soft, shiny and warm fur ever again. I hope he has forgiven me already for ever leaving him. My mom said that maybe he has already served his purpose, to make a sad, miserable woman like me happy and live again. Maybe he did. But whatever his purpose was I’m happy that at one point in time, there came a dog not just into our house but into our hearts and changed our lives forever.

Thank you my darling Dashie. Thank you for making our existence matter. Thank you for all the memories. I miss you and I love you boy.