Considering the currently extant threads in MPSIMS on the deaths of people, I don’t want to be too overdramatic in this thread. I just wanted to post something for myself.
Some of you who have visited tatertot’s homepage will have seen Abby already, probably just by accident. (Abby can be seen in the middle of this page on the left-hand side.) Abby was our faithful pet for 12 and a half years. She died this evening at about 8, at home. We still don’t know how it happened; she was fine one minute, and the next she had fallen over and we were unable to revive her. I’m still having a hard time believing it happened, because she was in perfect health, and at her last visit to the vet the vet thought she could live for another ten years. I’m glad that it happened at home, and my mom and dad and I were there so that we could say goodbye one last time.
I know losing a pet isn’t like losing a member of our family, and I know that I’ll be feeling better soon. It’s just that Abby was so much a part of our routine and our daily lives that there’s going to be a void for a while. For 12 years my parents have taken Abby for her morning walk every day, fed her at the same time, let her go to bed at the same time. Every day when my dad came home from work Abby would race up to him, and dad would scratch her stomach. It’s going to be strange now that those routines are gone. It’s also going to be sad because Abby was such a good companion, especially to my mom. When mom watched soap operas in the afternoon, Abby would sit next to her. If she taped them to watch in bed at night, Abby would lie in the bed with her when she watched. Mom felt safe in the house when Abby was around: even though Abby was only a little terrier, when a stranger came to the door she would make a huge racket. And when mom walked around the house doing things, Abby always followed her from room to room like a lost sheep. I know my mom will miss her the most.
It’s hard to say of a dog that people loved her. But it really was true of Abby. Everyone liked being around her. My brother-in-law, who hates dogs, even liked Abby because “she didn’t act like a dog.” Abby liked being around children, which is pretty unusual for a Westie, and didn’t really mind when kids pulled on her hair or her tail. Abby had a funny “personality”, sometimes acting like a bemused child who couldn’t understand why people treated her like a dog rather than a human. A lot of people are going to miss her.
It’s true that Abby never did anything “great” in her life. Especially during the last six years, Abby slept about 18 hours a day, and spent most of the rest of the time eating or digging holes in the garden. No one owes a debt of life to her, and her short time here on earth will, in the end, prove to be of no benefit to mankind. But while she was here, she provided companionship and totally unconditional love to everyone she came into contact with. Would that I could say the same thing about myself.
Goodbye, Abby. (May 11, 1988 - March 1, 2001)
So sad. I’m sorry for your loss, Duke.