Sweet 16 (a love letter)
Sixteen years ago I was living life and not worrying about much.... I was enjoying being in a relationship and doing theatre (I was on a pretty long run of show after show after show - I had lots more energy and time back then!) and working for a music store. I felt like I was thriving..... not much to worry about other than where was vacation going to be that year!
Sixteen years ago all was well. It was the calm before the storm before the rug was to be yanked from under me.
Sixteen years ago a little puppy was born in June. She was a little black furball, all wrinkly and adorable. She was to live a life of fear and hell for her first year but within a few months she would join my family. When I first met Jessie she was almost 15 months old and scared of her own shadow. She'd been horribly mistreated by her previous owner and the breeder took her back and decided to only sell her to a family that would not attempt to breed or show her - just love her and let her live a happy life.
I was in the midst of fear and despair of losing my dad. I had spent the entire summer fearing a dreaded page or phone call from the UW Medical Center whilst I drove back and forth to be with him on a daily basis. After August the doctors finally cleared my dad to come back home but had to spend the first 4-8 weeks at a nursing home. I knew he would hate every moment of being there and thought he needed some incentive to behave (I'm smiling when I think of all the trouble my dad wanted to cause when he was hospitalized - he hated being there!) and when I asked what he wanted more than anything he said he wanted a Shar-pei dog. We'd talked about the breed for years and it had been 13 years since our last dog, Queenie had passed away. When I discovered a Shar-pei breeder living within 100 yards of the nursing home I knew that this was meant to be.
So, despite my mother's misgivings and very loud objections, I went and saw Jessie. The breeder was more than willing to bring Jessie over to the nursing home so we could see if she would even like my dad. The poor girl was so terrified but we walked her over from the house to the nursing home and her demeanor changed as soon as she entered my dad's room. She calmed down and went to the side of the bed and let my dad pet her. That was it. It was a done deal. My dad was so happy.
Jessie spent many a night sleeping next to my dad in his last years. It was interesting - despite the fact that she was scared of men in general and she had strong attachments to both me and my mother she would only sleep in the room where my dad was. She wasn't the most social dog in the world - I even nicknamed her 'cat dog' because she could be so aloof. Nevertheless, she spent her evenings with my dad. Even when he was gone, she wouldn't sleep anywhere else except by the chair where my dad liked to be.
I never expected Jessie to outlive my dad but she did. What was more shocking was the fact she outlived my mom. She has been living with us since October and she has her issues as an elderly little lady but for the most part, she has acclimated herself to our crazy little house. She has outlived most Shar-pei's as they only have an 8-10 year life expectancy. She just turned Sweet 16 which is a major miracle, especially to our vet.
Happy birthday, Miss Jessie. Your sissy loves you very much and knows that your mama and daddy are watching over both of us. I think we're in good hands.....
Sixteen years ago all was well. It was the calm before the storm before the rug was to be yanked from under me.
Sixteen years ago a little puppy was born in June. She was a little black furball, all wrinkly and adorable. She was to live a life of fear and hell for her first year but within a few months she would join my family. When I first met Jessie she was almost 15 months old and scared of her own shadow. She'd been horribly mistreated by her previous owner and the breeder took her back and decided to only sell her to a family that would not attempt to breed or show her - just love her and let her live a happy life.
I was in the midst of fear and despair of losing my dad. I had spent the entire summer fearing a dreaded page or phone call from the UW Medical Center whilst I drove back and forth to be with him on a daily basis. After August the doctors finally cleared my dad to come back home but had to spend the first 4-8 weeks at a nursing home. I knew he would hate every moment of being there and thought he needed some incentive to behave (I'm smiling when I think of all the trouble my dad wanted to cause when he was hospitalized - he hated being there!) and when I asked what he wanted more than anything he said he wanted a Shar-pei dog. We'd talked about the breed for years and it had been 13 years since our last dog, Queenie had passed away. When I discovered a Shar-pei breeder living within 100 yards of the nursing home I knew that this was meant to be.
So, despite my mother's misgivings and very loud objections, I went and saw Jessie. The breeder was more than willing to bring Jessie over to the nursing home so we could see if she would even like my dad. The poor girl was so terrified but we walked her over from the house to the nursing home and her demeanor changed as soon as she entered my dad's room. She calmed down and went to the side of the bed and let my dad pet her. That was it. It was a done deal. My dad was so happy.
Jessie spent many a night sleeping next to my dad in his last years. It was interesting - despite the fact that she was scared of men in general and she had strong attachments to both me and my mother she would only sleep in the room where my dad was. She wasn't the most social dog in the world - I even nicknamed her 'cat dog' because she could be so aloof. Nevertheless, she spent her evenings with my dad. Even when he was gone, she wouldn't sleep anywhere else except by the chair where my dad liked to be.
I never expected Jessie to outlive my dad but she did. What was more shocking was the fact she outlived my mom. She has been living with us since October and she has her issues as an elderly little lady but for the most part, she has acclimated herself to our crazy little house. She has outlived most Shar-pei's as they only have an 8-10 year life expectancy. She just turned Sweet 16 which is a major miracle, especially to our vet.
Happy birthday, Miss Jessie. Your sissy loves you very much and knows that your mama and daddy are watching over both of us. I think we're in good hands.....
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