friday with sweet pea
jamelah
We have no mode of grieving that is even remotely sufficient when it comes to the loss of the animals who share our lives. This is, I think, especially true when it comes to dogs, because there is nothing more pure and unadulterated than the love of a dog.
I’m not a person prone to weeping. I’ve seen a lot of death and it’s fair, I think, to say I’m pretty hard-boiled when it comes to grief. But nothing will reduce me to tears faster than the news that a dog or a cat has died, or is terminally ill. This is true even of animals I only know through photographs.
I’ve known Sweet Pea since Jamelah posted the first of many blurry photographs of her. I know about her ear infections and her issue with her foot; I know how her hair would collect along the floor next to the wall in Jamelah’s dining room; I remember a video of Sweet Pea mauling a sock monkey. I know how deeply Jamelah loves that dog, and it guts me to know that Sweet Pea isn’t long for the world.
But man, it’s so wonderful that Sweet Pea and Jamelah found each other. It’s so wonderful that they’ve had eleven years together. It’s worth the pain. It’s always worth the pain. It doesn’t make it hurt any less, but it’s always always worth the pain.
Blog photograph copyrighted to the photographer and used with permission by utata.org. All photographs used on utata.org are stored on flickr.com and are obtained via the flickr API. Text is copyrighted to the author, greg fallis and is used with permission by utata.org. Please see Show and Share Your Work
