All the Little Things

It was quiet. Too quiet. I’d become accustomed to the patter of little feet following behind me, of constantly looking around my own feet to make sure I wasn’t about to step on her, to seeing her curled up in one of her many beds, to her snores and squeaky yawns, to impatient yaps when I didn’t let her back inside fast enough, to her theatrical spins and running about harum scarum as I prepared her food. It was too quiet. But she was everywhere I looked. From the beds still scattered about, the blankets she loved to burrow into, the few toys that she never played with on the ground, the gate across the hall to keep her from wandering, the stairs she needed to get on the bed. She was everywhere and nowhere. The hole she left behind was cavernous. And now here I sit, alone, wishing with all my heart that dogs’ lives weren’t so short and what I would have given to have more time.

The Last Goodbye

Hot tears rolled down her face as the credits began to roll.  That was it, it was over.  After thirteen years, the journey had come to an end at last, ending right where it had begun so many years before.  She watched as the names and pictures of the actors and characters she had so come to love flashed across the screen.  She'd known her heart would get broken, had tried to prepare herself, but there was no preparing for what had come.  She'd loved every second of it, but also dreaded it, because each second, each minute that passed by brought it closer to the end.  As she listened to the beautiful song playing, reminding her of this last goodbye, she felt her sorrow deepen and she wondered at the people around her, laughing and joking, ready to head back into the world and continue on with their lives.  She had the feeling that for most of those people, it was nothing more than a movie, nothing special.  But to her, it was so much more.