We buried our little dog Rainey today. She was old and fading, this wasn’t unexpected.
My ex girlfriend Jennifer, who was unexpectedly incommunicado for the entirety of break up until last night, came by for her visit when we were in the middle of debating if we should put the dog down. After we had decided to do so in that kind of backhanded family way- Mom: Do you think we should call the vet? <long pause where all we did was look at each other> Me: I’ll call the vet.- she stayed with me. Then when my father came back she and I buried Rainey in the backyard.
And, you know, while burying the family dog together is an effective method of avoiding that “we used to date, let’s be angsty about it!” awkwardness with one’s ex-girlfriend, it’s not one that I heavily recommend.
It’s been a weird little night. I’m okay, really I am, I’m just sitting here thinking, “That really happened?”
andygirl
I can sort of identify.
I have an old and fading dog, too…similar debates have been going on…and have been incommunicado with a brother I have always dearly loved. I wish he would be with me the way your ex was.
All I can offer is my sympathies.
And I take from you the knowledge that other people are having weird little nights.
My backyard isn’t lit particularly well. But my house is by a lake and all the christmas lights are still up, so there was an odd glow on everything. We buried her in the garden next to the cat that died last year… I wrote a thread about him, come to think of it. It was labor day and I was home- I come home for like a week every three months- and the vet’s place was closed, so I drove an hour to Dover to the emergency clinic.
The ground wasn’t frozen, though, which is good. We dug her grave and talked about the last time we dug a grave for a pet together. That’s bonding for you, I suppose.
It was the right thing to do. We’re driving to New Hampshire tomorrow and there’s no way she could have made the trip, or at least made it in any state that was humane to keep her in. So now me and my brother and my parents have 10 hours in a car tomorrow. Dear lord, my life is turning into a bad family melodrama.