Sad News

Friday on my way home from work I noticed I had a missed call from home.... I usually talk to my mom on Saturdays or Sundays so I knew something was wrong and something told me Maya wasn't doing well. For the past year that I've been away I always worry or dread that I’m going to call home and find out that Maya is very sick and my mom has to put her to sleep. I worry about this not only for Maya but for my mom, the idea has always been that I would fly home so we could do it together and that I would get one last good bye…..

From Thursday to Friday night Maya woke my mom up slightly hyperventilating, Maya had been feeling alittle off all week but still eating and up for her walks so nothing too alarming. My mom said she sat with her all night and she then Maya fell asleep and let out a big sigh and passed away.

I know that amongst all the terrible things that happen in life losing a dog might seem trivial to those who have never had a dog but when a dog is part of your life for 13 years, there for you when you get home from work or school or trips and is always so happy to see you, shows you all the happiness in the world when you take her out for her walk, looks at you with her big eyes begging for a little crumb of food during dinner and just loves you….. it becomes like an undeniable member of the family.

My mom and I cried over the phone together and then I started thinking of all the moments Maya and I had together, how she got scared during storms, how she ate my cell phone, while my mom as away, to teach my a lesson because I had been ignoring her a little, I remember how I use to walk her every day after work when I still lived at home, I remember how we use to wrestle on my mom’s bed, how she was scared of water and of the phone and the vacuum and of cameras (that’s why she looks so scared on the first picture, she’s not running away from me but she hates flash)….. I am very sad to have lost her but take comfort in knowing that no dog could have asked for a better life or asked to have been more loved.

I’m not sure how I’ll react the next time I go home and she won’t be there to greet me. I miss you Maya!