Goodbye My Special Guy

It is a sad day today as I find myself writing this difficult post. My handsome, special guy, Nikita died yesterday. He was the best dog and I am so heartbroken. I could not bear posting his picture here so I borrowed my friend's special condolence email he sent to me last night. It's the new dog in his family and it actually made me smile on a day with so many tears.

So with that, I have a few words about my amazing dog ^..^

I will miss that big, white head with ears down and sleepy eyes greeting me at the top of the stairs when I get home from work. His tail wagging a mile a minute and stepping on cats, he would tell me all about his day.

I will miss walking him around my neighborhood, feeling so very proud of all the "he's so handsome" and "he's so beautiful" comments I would get.

I will miss feeling so safe and protected knowing that as long as he was around, nothing would harm me. I will miss him putting himself in front of me and issuing a bwoof warning any strangers to keep their distance from his mom.

I will miss his spirit, intelligence, persistence and sense of humor which was often evidenced by that gleam in his eye as he would toss his slobbery, squeaky soccer ball at one of the sleeping cats.

I will miss his determination and stubbornness that didn't wane even as his body was getting old.

I will miss him pitching his toys at me to play with him.

I will miss watching him belly flop into my dad's pool or hanging out in his kiddie pool, happy to be cooled off on a hot day.

I will miss telling him "I'm going to get you" and watching him take off for me to chase him.

I will miss watching him unwrap presents during the holidays. Both his presents and anyone else who isn't paying attention.

I will miss his ability to hear an ice cream sandwich wrapper being unwrapped from a mile away. And his ability to get to the source of that noise in 2 seconds flat.

I will miss him sleeping next to me at night, hogging the bed and kicking me when he had his puppy dreams of chasing squirrels or whatever else.

I will miss him waking me up in the morning by putting his head on my pillow and kissing my face.

I will miss him standing guard on the bath mat every time I take a shower.

I will miss teasing him about his nemesis, squirrels, with every word that begins with a "sq" sound.

I will miss him licking my face when I cry and then bringing me one of his toys to try to cheer me up.

I will miss telling him "get the kitties" and watching his face light up. The cats will probably not miss that.

I will miss watching him being so gentle nuzzling Jack out of the way to make room for himself on his bed.

I miss being able to think about my dog without tears running down my face. I am so very sad it seems a million years away that I will not.

Goodbye my handsome boy. Thank you for everything.