Dog of the Week: Remembering Duncan

It's taken me a year to even think about putting down words to what Duncan meant to me and how our life together changed my entire world. There are people who say everything happens for a reason and while I do think we have an amazing capacity to find meaning in all aspects of our lives, sometimes we are just plain lucky enough to be blessed with something incredible.  I was just a girl somewhat lost in the world of college trying to make sense of who I was and put one foot in front of the other. It was hard and I really was not emotionally equipped to say the least.

Enter a $100 birthday check from my granny combined with a love of dogs and a realization that living without a dog for the first time ever really sucked. 

Everyone at the shelter pushed me towards the puppy room. Who doesn't want a puppy? Well, nothing was doing it for me. I walked out back and the pandemonium to be seen because a PERSON was coming was unreal. And there sitting in the back of his run was a dreadlocked bearded shy mess not sure of what to do. I knelt down and he came hesitantly to me. I held out my hand and told him it was ok. He automatically assumed I meant it was ok to sneeze all over my face and that was it. 1 reference call to my mom, a chewed leash on the ride home, and peeing on my school bag upon entering my house was all we needed to know we really belonged together. 

I had not known what to do with myself besides diligently try to go to my classes and not fail out of my first year of college. He was hard. His neglect and abuse and bundle of nerves attitude was so damn hard but it gave me a purpose and something to focus on to make both of us better. 

We grew up together. Chewed shoes because I was slacking in the walks department. Peeing on the floor because men absolutely terrified him. Entire sleeves of tennis balls thrown and not retrieved because damn it, he was not a typical lab mix you crazy lady! Watching me get in bed those first months and laying down exactly the same way with his head on the pillow because he clearly had . never had a real home and wanted to get this whole living in a house thing right.  

The years passed and I figured out how to take him just about everywhere. If we weren't together I felt like I had phantom limb syndrome. We got to the point where it was effortless and people expected us as a package. There are too many years of adventures and love and frustration followed by more love to even put down here. 

I think the ultimate thing that Duncan really meant to me was home and family. There are always times we can't be with the ones we love but it makes coming back to them all the sweeter. 

When he became old and needed more help and support and could not always be by my side, it was a tough transition. But one I could make happily because there was nothing we wouldn't do for each other. Losing him was truly heartbreaking but he had shown me something so beautiful that even though a piece of my heart will always be missing, I can't help but smile. 

We had both been lost and found something to make our lives better. It doesn't take being lost or down to find the right people and companions but it is a magical thing when you do chance across the great loves of your life.