My Husband and I are staying with our oldest daughter,31, whose husband is being sent on his 4th deployment to Bahrain. His first deployment they were Newlyweds. During his 2nd deployment Becca was expecting and had their first daughter and he was given 2 weeks to come home since it was their first child. His third deployment Becca and our granddaughter were living in California. Then he was sent to Augusta, GA. One year after arriving in Augusta their second daughter was born. It was wonderful that he was here for her birth. Now Addi is two years old and he has once again been deployed so we wanted to be here when he shipped out for emotional support for Becca .
We have had dogs ever since my husband and I met .Our first was 13 when we were told he had end stage cancer. It was an emotionally draining experience to go through. Watching him wither away until we knew we had to take him in and have him put to sleep to relieve him from the agony that he was feeling.
Before we had to do this one of my friends, who I showed dogs with, offerd me a beautiful Brussels Griffon puppy. I couldn’t resist. Winston, our pug who was so ill, was not doing well so I decided to surprise my husband with Rex. Rex would soon become his new puppy and best friend. I brought him home with me from a dog show, covered his small dog crate with a sheet and made an impromptu hobo bag on a stick. I wrote a short poem saying something like “I’ve been on the road for quite awhile, going from town to town and train to train. I found my way to your house. I would really appreciate it if you would take me in as part of your family. Rex”
I knew this would help my husband get through the loss of Winston. Rex has been a wonderful dog. In fact my husbands parents call him their grand-dog. They LOVE taking care of him anytime we have to go out of town and feel he is their dog too.
Rex was only a few months old when we got him but he stole our hearts immediately. He constantly wanted to be petted, praised and loved which was not an issue at all. He always knew when one of us was sick, depressed or just needed to know we were loved no matter what. Total Unconditional Love. My father passed away three and a half years ago and my mother 2 years before that. Rex could sense my depression and stayed by me on the sofa for weeks after I had lost each parent. I also had to have both of my hips replaced and again he stayed by my bed throughout my recovery. He was always there when we needed his comfort and we were there for him.
This morning around 9:30 we saw my husbands parents home phone number pop up on our I-phone. We had left them with medication and assumed it was not a serious phone call. My husband answered the phone only to hear his father crying and so upset to have to tell us they found him in his crate this morning passed away. We also have a female Griff, Jade, 2 years younger than Rex who is his constant companion. They have slept together since we got her 10 years ago. I know she will be confused until we get back to Texas to pick her up on Thursday. Just like Rex, Jade has unconditional love for us and my In-Laws.
Over time we will recover from the grief we feel today for Rex, but just like any member of the family it will take time.
The wonderful thing about dogs is the unconditional love they have and the way they sense your feelings when you are happy or sad.
I just wanted to share this with a few of my twitter friends who I feel I have become close to over the past year.
It is so sad that we as people cannot feel unconditional love for each other no matter Race, Religion, or Social Status. Our hearts break today and will take time to mend. We are happy that we were here to support our daughter when here husband was once again sent on deployment, but this time leaving her with 2 daughters, age 6 and 2, but also with her working full time and having to get the youngest to daycare and our older granddaughter to Summer Camp while still maintaining the house and all that goes with running a family. We do love our daughters, son-in-law, granddaughter and in-laws unconditionally. I know it will never happen but at times like this it makes me think how much better our world would be if we all could love unconditionally. I know that all we can do is keep on trying together and together hopefully make our world a better place.