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SHE WAS A LADY !

Even as a puppy, Callie was frisky and mischievous, but underneath it all there was a reserve, a dignity, for even in her youth she was a lady. I remember when she came home with us, nervous and shy, her favorite place was under the desk at my feet. It would be that way for nearly fifteen years as she always preferred to be under something if she wanted to rest; a table, a bed, but always close to those she loved.

It was beneath her dignity to bark or beg or jump up on us, but those huge brown eyes and expressive ears could speak volumes and tell us precisely what she wanted. Their magnetic power near impossible to refuse.

Yet bark she did if strangers came around, for though it was her nature to be timid, if she thought her loved ones to be at risk, she didn’t give it a second thought. Later, when her eyesight began to fail, the threats HAD to be scarier and more frequent embodied in large, vague shapes, but still she would come to shield us. Courage for those to whom it comes natural is not as great as for one who must rise above her own fears to demonstrate it.

I’m ashamed to say we abused her love over the years, as younger dogs and cats, but primarily babies competed for our love and our attention. She never complained, for if it were important to us, then she understood and was faithful irregardless. She was the absolute personification of unconditional love, and the closest thing we will see of this magnificent attribute until we are allowed to see and fully understand the depth and scope of the love of our creator.

To sit or to lie was to have her with us. To have a hand within reach was a signal for her to nuzzle her head gently under it seeking a touch or a caress. She knew when we were hurting and was quick to console. She knew when we were happy and her joy knew no bounds as she reveled in it. Even when her muscles started failing her, she would use her last ounce of energy trying to get to us. When she started losing touch with everything else, scared and confused, she never failed to respond to our voices, to our touch . . .

I’m afraid I don’t have a heart big enough to love her as she loved us, and what heart I do have now has a hole as big as a cavern in it at her passing. I held her in my arms as she left, and a big part of me left with her. She was a lady, first, last and always, and MY, how I’m going to miss her.