Tear fall For the Giving Pug

A puppy waddled into my life when I was sick and often housebound by Meniere’s disease.  I call them the lost years. A time that I struggled to find everyday joy. 

But here was this adorable puppy that one daughter toted around in a baby carrier and another daughter hid in beanie babies and dressed in build a Bear clothes. And I chased that puppy on a hillside of ivy to potty train even when I could barely walk steady. She kept me going. She made me smile.

Moves are hard on kids.  A home is disrupted. Familiarity is interrupted. There is the task of finding a new comfort. Friendships, doctors, neighbors and a new community to stake a place. Then there is the dog that loves the exploration, the new attention and continues to play like the game never stopped.

We got sweet Jojo because our pug Otie was getting older and we knew our time with him was limited. We hoped a new dog would bring us comfort  when we had to say goodbye and Jojo did just that. 

My daughters grew up and moved away to college and that was a very tough transition for me. But there was Jojo providing me with the same silly sounds and antics and keeping a very lonely mom company while she mourned. 

As Jojo aged, so did I and I began to appreciate her presence even more. She followed me room to room. She gave me the eye when she needed to go out. She barked for breakfast and lunch. She just kept me smiling and steadied my often lonely thoughts. And then she got sick.

So I got that pet stroller and we walked all we could to drink in the sunshine and share the quiet moments in contentment. And now I wish her an eternity of her sweet dog dreams where her paws anxiously wave and her barks are soft and sweet. And she basks in the love that she provided us during all of her dog years.