Man's Best Friend

As some of you may already know my family dog Jenny passed away yesterday at the ripe old age of 17. She had a special bond with my father so losing her this close to Christmas of course made all of the family feel the loss of our father even more. I chose to look at her passing in a different way. First and foremost, we all die, everything dies, it is inevitable. Jenny lived a long full complete life and my parents spoiled her rotten. I got excited thinking that perhaps my Dad and Jenny had  been reunited for the holidays and were happy. I could just see her sitting on his lap eating a cheeseburger or even a bologna sandwich (my dad always fed her what he ate).
Anyway I was on the way to the beach with Andy and two of our dogs Ellie Mae and Harvey when my brother told me that Jenny wasn't going to make it. Of course I cried, even being so far away from home it is hard because she was such a big part of my life. I was lucky though to have a comforting boyfriend and two very special dogs and the ocean to ease my pain. Andy went off to take some hang gliding lessons and I went down to the water and set up a little spot for myself and the pups to just relax. The dogs absolutely love the water, maybe not so much of being in it too deep but they like the waves crashing on the shore. Ellie Mae is absolutely fascinated by the ocean and also by fire, she stares at it very intently and she is very calm.    
    After we had explored and ran around a little bit I had a father and daughter approach me  and the dogs. The little girl asked if she could pet the dogs and I said yes. Harvey was kind of barking so she was a little afraid of him at first. I found out a lot about this little girl, her name was Alex, she was spending Christmas with her father who said that he would love to have a dog but his place wasn't big enough. Alex told me that her mothers place was big enough but her mothers boyfriend wouldn't let her get a dog. She also said that she always wanted a dog so that when anyone would pick on her, it wouldn't matter because her dog would be her friend. I knew exactly what she meant by that. She was a beautiful little seven year old girl, and for a good 30 minutes her and I chatted and then took the dogs on a walk and running through birds. I was able to capture some beautiful photos. It made me feel great to let this little girl experience the joy of having a dog and to let her father experience the joy of how happy his daughter was. It has to be a great mental image he has of her running and laughing by the water with Harvey. This helped me as well because as most of you know Harvey was originally my dad's dog and I took him after my Dad passed and my brother Ronnie kept Jenny. Harvey has brought me so much joy since I have had him, not a day goes by that he doesn't make me smile. It is OK to be sad, and grieve when someone or something special to you dies, but it is an amazing feeling to be at peace with it and to rejoice the life that was lost, and to remember to keep on living. This story goes out to everyone who has a loved one that they are missing this holiday season, I know personally how hard it is. But you have to remember to keep living, because there are so many beautiful things left to see. I hope you enjoy the photos.