My dog Roxy went to doggie Heaven yesterday. I had her for 13 years – since she was a tiny fluffy puppy! She was the first dog that was 100% mine and I really really wanted her. I bought her myself around sophomore year of college after asking my mom and boyfriend for a puppy for Christmas. They didn’t deliver and I wished I’d written Santa a letter in the off chance that he still believed in me…. 
Well – I was on a doggie mission and I decided to get a pup for myself. I got her from a family near Long Beach a few weeks after Christmas – all I remember is it was nighttime and I was beyond excited.
She was so good from the very beginning! I think she had one accident inside – but basically house trained herself!
(Around this same time I found kitten sized Vegas – I got them fixed on the same day and that’s another story I’ll tell ya one day.)
I took her to puppy training at the park where I learned that – dog training isn’t about training your dog, nope. Dog training is about training you how to lead your dog.
When she graduated I needed to share what breed she was for the Puppy Training Certificate. I said she was a “Mixican” because she was a Lab-mix and I’m Mexican. I’m sure the instructor thought I was a complete weirdo. I kinda am… but that’s the awesome part about dogs – they don’t care if you’re weird or smelly or poor or the world’s worst singer or fat or if you have one boob that’s bigger than the other. Dogs love you just how you are.
[Roxy and me as Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf]
Thank God for our dogs!
Roxy was a lover. She just wanted love and pets and was amazing to me. I’m very very lucky I got to have her in my life.
She was the only dog we’ve had that liked to go in the pool!
She let me dress her up in funny hats for the holidays and costumes for Halloween.
She would try to act cool but if someone new walked in the room her tail would tap against the floor before she even looked up to see who it was.
She was such a good girl.
Bailey, my brother’s dog, was her best friend. Or… more accurately – he loved her 1000% and she thought he was cool but she secretly thought he was her pet.
Sometimes she’d skip breakfast or dinner and we’d get stressed she wasn’t eating. But the reality was she would wait for the avocados to fall from the trees in the backyard and munch on those. She did it her whole life and I’d joke that her diet of avocados kept her coat thick and shiny!**
I loved her and she loved me.
And yesterday she got to go to Heaven. Lucky dog!
After 13 years her furry body just couldn’t keep going. I decided to put her to sleep with a service that comes to your home. There are several places that do pet euthanasia in your home in Los Angeles and Orange County. I’ll share more on this soon because I’m really glad I did it this way even though it was expensive.
I’m sharing this because I want to tell everyone how awesome she was and show you these pictures. I was going through them yesterday and found so many fun memories of Roxy enjoying life and being silly and photo bombing my food photos! I love it! I want to just remember her and honor her today. I’m so proud of her and thankful for her!
This is Rox wishing me ‘Good Luck’ before the LA Marathon 2 years ago.
[That time Roxy got busted for eating too many avocados]
[That time I tried to take her away from her fancy yard and boyfriend]
It was really hard to say good-bye to her. Ugh. I full on cried – like real out loud cry. I’m a little surprised how sad it was. I thought I had been preparing myself since I knew she was getting older and slowing down. But it was still so sad.
This is part of the deal when we get a dog or cat – we know they live about 12 to 15 years if we’re lucky. We know we’ll have to say good-bye to them at some point. But it still knocked me down pretty hard.
Tomorrow I’ll start to pick myself up, dust off and keep living my life. It’s okay if I don’t want to move forward just yet – but I do want to at least stand up and be present with the people I love. And I want to be present for you. I have a lot to say about love and loss and if I can help one person feel better I want to share my story and thoughts.
It’s kind of therapeutic to share this sadness right now. I wasn’t able to do that when my marriage ended because I wanted to fight for it and I wasn’t sure if it was really over. It was devastating but it wasn’t clear if I had lost that yet.
Losing Roxy and looking at the death and divorce I’ve had to deal with this past year has taught me a lot.
On the bright side – it reminds me how lucky I am to have had my Grams and Aunt Martha and Ben and Roxy in my life. I definitely thank God for these blessings and all the time I got to spend with them.
And I want to send a ton of love out if you happen to be reading this and processing a loss in your life. You’re going to be okay.
Focus on what you have. Look at all the big and small blessings you have in your life. Tell the people you love (or like a lot?) that you appreciate them. Today!
And to end this post on a happy note – do this today and you’ll feel better and be glad you did it!
Text or call someone you love something nice or funny. Right now.
Ideas to reach out to someone you love (randomly) in case you don’t know where to start:
How’s your day? Thinking about ya and wanted to say hi!
What’s going on over there? Anything fun?
(Send a funny gif) I saw this and thought about you!
Remember that time I … (send them a random fun memory)
Thank you for (dinner / putting up with my shlt / not killing me when I crashed the car in HS /)…
Hey – remember you told me about that ‘run eat repeat’ blog? Well – it’s super random but today there’s a ton doggy pics and I’m supposed to tell you I love you. K. Bye.
Okay. Now um, go for it!
**NOTE: A lot of people have messaged me that avocados are bad for dogs. I think it’s just the seed – but I wouldn’t risk it. Our dogs grew up in a yard with avocados and ate the ones that fell from the trees. We didn’t give them guacamole or anything on purpose.*
The post There’s a New Guard(dog)ian Angel in Heaven appeared first on Run Eat Repeat.
source https://runeatrepeat.com/2018/02/28/theres-a-new-guarddogian-angel-in-heaven/
No comments:
Post a Comment