Shotgun Shadow

Memories crowd my mind of better days, better times. Days when Dusty was young and full of life, riding shotgun in the car with me and sticking close as my shadow. This will be her last night as she is suffering with kidney failure and we will need to get the vet in tomorrow. 

I know she’s only a dog, but the anguish of deciding when to call the vet feels like treachery to the faithful friend I’ve laughed with so many times through the past thirteen years. Maybe only ‘doggy’ people will understand the shredded feelings we are all dealing with...

Only a dog? How could I have written that? She has been so much more than ‘just’ a dog over these years. Her frolics and antics have called forth laughter and joy from deep within me, even in troubled times. Her exuberance for living and the joy with which she greeted me every time I returned from wherever I had been will remain as a ray of sunshine in my mind forever. 

Do dogs go to heaven? I’ve been telling her that for the last three days, making a date to meet and throw sticks for fetching out of lochs and lakes, in a place where God has wiped away every tear and death is no more.

Roll on that blessed day. Your Kingdom come, o Jesus, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Meanwhile, we’re in the pits as the four-legged shadow is lengthening and beginning to fade.