Mikey

[Alysser]

I didn't think I'd ever be able to post this here, because that makes it so final. For those who have me as a friend on FB, you know this already, but I figured I would post this for those who don't because I know Mikey was so very loved here. But I was going back through old pictures and figured it was time.

On March 9th, over 6 months ago, Mikey died due to a tumor on his spleen. I've been through dog deaths before, and honestly, they always suck. My 1 year old cat died over the summer, my childhood dog died in 2007, my hamster and a variety of other small critters have passed before, but NOTHING could have prepared me for the grief and emotion I experienced through this dogs death.

You guys have been there from the very beginning. Sassy died, I was a Freshmen in High School, and it was tough obviously. We didn't get a dog for 15 months. A pretty bad time for my mental state but I won't go there. Anyway, fast forward to 27th of September 2009, my entire life changed. I am not sure what the heck I even did before Mikey but he was my heart and soul dog. He saved and changed me in so many ways. If I posted a memorial for him it would likely take me months and pages to finish it. He was the goofiest, happiest, sweetest, most lovable boy in this whole world. He was the embodiment of the perfect dog. He wasn't the best behaved for a LONG time and he was my work in progress till the day he died but he improved so much, taught me so much, and set a standard for what I will forever look for in a dog.

I moved away from home in 2014 to go to college. I was only 7 hours away but it was tough. My parents loved that dog and would never let me take him. After I graduated I lived at home for brief periods, the longest being maybe 4 months. He was always there, always fell back into our old routines, always loved me with unfaltering devotion. He had been sick on and off for a few weeks and they couldn't pinpoint it. Well I guess one night the dang tumor ruptured. They gave my parents options for surgery that would keep him alive maybe 3 more months and if you know Mikey you know that wasn't the life for him. I was at work and still lived 7 hours away, so I wasn't home for it. They told me the next day he died. I was shocked. He couldn't even stand. It wasn't just me who experience this loss, my whole family (even my brother who only came for holidays and various weekends throughout the year) were heartbroken. I heard my Dad cry over the phone and that killed me. I was lucky because I have another dog now, Cooper, who I need to introduce still. He's a Beagle mix, courtesy of Mikey who enabled my love of beagles. He helped me more than I can say.

As I said, I can't possibly right a huge memorial for him even now. I am still heartbroken and angry. He was only 10. Seems that's the age I loss every dog at. Anyway, I'll leave you with this quote I found that sums up my feelings:

"Old dogs don't die, at least, not those dogs who take the biggest chunks of our hearts with them when they leave us. Those dogs are inextricably part of our souls, and they go with us wherever we are. Though we may not see them, we know they're there because our heart is still beating; we still breathe, and those of us who have been truly touched by a good dog knows our lives really started the day we met them

Magnificent dogs don't die. They shepherd our dreams and only allow the good ones through the gates of our consciousness. They watch over us much as they did in life, and that moment we step just barely outside of death or disaster, it's because they moved our feet or they stopped short in front of us as they did in life. You see, a good dog is something only given to a few people. They are a gift from the universe and though they're with us only a short time, they never really leave us. They are loyalty and love perfected, and once we are graced with that sort of love we can never lose it. We merely lose sight of it for a time, and that is our fault; for how can love like that ever go away?

It can't. It can't, and it never will. For these brave souls trade their hearts for ours, and they beat together beyond sickness, beyond death. They are ours, and we are theirs, for every sunrise and every sunset, until the sun blazes its last and we once again join the stars."