Almost twelve and a half years ago Keith and I made a decision that would change our lives forever. We took in one of four abandoned puppies, just a few days before we were married. We were young but since we were about to get married, figured we were adult enough to handle the responsibility of a new pet. Charlie became our trial child as we started our family together.
She was a pretty good puppy, as far as puppies went. She only ruined one pair of my shoes and they were cheap and easily replaced. One thing we noticed very early on was her extreme fear of riding in cars. This was a fear she would continue to have until the day she left this earth. We had more experiences than we cared for, cleaning her "fear" out of the back of our car. One particularly memorable incident included a high powered car wash somewhere just outside of Dallas, after she had eaten a whole batch of Christmas cookies no less... Yuck!
Charlie came with us as we moved from Pleasant Grove, Utah, to Dallas, TX and back to Pleasant Grove again. It was in Pleasant Grove where her world would be rocked by the arrival of our first child, followed a few years later by another. To our kids, she was a great big, fuzzy play thing. They would climb on her, pull on her and even once, have explosive diarrhea all over her head. (Payback for the a-fore mentioned car wash incident.) Charlie was always patient with the little hands that would pull and poke at her. She would lay still as they used her as a jungle gym and would patiently wait by their chairs at the table for the prizes they would drop from their plates.
Our move to San Antonio was particularly hard on Charlie. She never seemed to fully adjust to life in our new home. Another baby was born and life continued to get more hectic. She became more paranoid and began to be more than just a little naughty. Beds were peed on, moulding around doors were chewed beyond recognition and Keith and I will never forget being awoken by the fire alarm one night as our house was flooding because a thunder storm had frightened Charlie into chewing up the water line to the toilet in our master bathroom. It's amazing we didn't kick her to the curb after that one.
Stay with us she did though, through one more move, just a mile away from our previous home. Another baby joined our family. Charlie greyed. Still ever patient with our kids who at times adored her and loved all over her, to times where the just wanted her out of the way and would shove her or just plain ignore her. Never once did she retaliate. There were times for sure when they deserved it but in the end, she loved those kids. She always slept in the room with Keith and I but on nights when we didn't go to bed as early as she would have liked us to, she would sulk up to one of the kids rooms and sleep there until she heard us come up the stairs.
By the end of her life, things were rough and the words we spoke of her were not always kind. Friends would marvel that we hadn't done away with "that dog" years earlier. There were times we wanted to, for sure, but the fact always remained, she was part of our family, for good or for bad.
When the time came for us to make the decision to say goodbye, it was hard. Harder than we ever could have imagined. Our kids were heartbroken. They had never known a life without their Char Char. Many tears were shed. We said goodbye to our Charlie but she will never be forgotten. Thank you Charlie, for helping us grow up, for being a friend and companion, for being a protector when there was a bump in the night, for warming our feet, for teaching us patience and being a part of our family.
A couple of months after Charlie passed, Sam was told to write a paper in his 4th grade class about how dog is a man's best friend. Sam had taken her death the hardest and was still struggling with the loss at the time this assignment was given. He wrote a beautiful, heart-wrenching tribute to her. When I asked him about writing it he said, "it hurt really bad to write that." I am proud of him doing such a good job with his assignment, even though it was so hard to do. Here it is, typed exactly as it was written by him.
Dog is Man's Best Friend - by Sam Irwin
Is a dog a man's best friend? There are three main things I want to talk about with you about and they are, babyhood with a dog childhood with a dog, and finally a dogs death. I will not answer your questions at the end, but yes, I did have a dog.
Imagine you were with a baby and that baby had a pet dog and that baby you can think of it as yourself or some random baby. Now imagine how much that baby would love that dog, but right now, lets focus on my timeline. Lets go back to when I was a baby. When I was a baby I would crawl over to her, climb onto her back, give her a lot of hugs, and lay my head on her. I would say my dog Charlie was my best friend when I was a baby. I loved her so much.
Now imagine you or some random kid was at home with their dog and playing with him/her, but lets focus on my timeline. Sometimes, I would lay down next to her and play with her by putting my hand on her back, wait a minute or two, and she would put her paw on my arm or on my back. I would say that Charlie was my best friend. I love Charlie so much and miss her, but I know that some day I will see her again.
Finally, imagine yourself crying so hard because your dog died or was put to sleep. Lets go back to my timeline for the last time. I was so sad that when I got home I thought I would never stop crying. I ate five cookies, because I was so sad. Sometimes out of the corner of my eyes, I think I see Charlie, then when I turn my head to look at her she's gone. It's impossible to get over it and I miss her so much.
I wish Charlie didn't have to be put to sleep, I feel like there's a big gap in the middle of my heart.
