Doggie

A friend's dog passed away, or rather was forced to put to sleep coz he was in pain and there was no way to save him.

Why am I writing this?

Doggie was one of the few pet dogs among my friends. As a dog lover myself, it was really a pleasure to hang out with a friend who kept a dog. I remembered how I used to travel to AMK to my friend's house, and then we would bring Doggie to Bishan Park Dog Run area, every Saturday, just because I wanted to play with the dog.

I remembered how he always drooled and licked at us, pant after a run, jumped up so that he could reach us, lovable. As a hot-blooded young male, he humped on PZ's legs, the only suay one. LOL.

Despite having not seen Doggie since Poly, my heart ached when I knew about his pain; my heart cried when I learned about his death.

It's really unfathomable how time can be so cruel, peeling off layer by layer, slice by slice, slowly and unknowingly. Only when Death is summoned, then we realise the Death is unavoidable, and it left painful memory for the live ones to slowly feed on until their own deaths.

I had never been good at consoling people, especially on someone's death. However, Doggie was once part of my life, giving me the comfort of having a dog, except that I did not have to clean his shit. So somehow, I shared the same pain and wanted to comfort Erica (Doggie's owner), knowing she still sobbing over his death. She told me how heartbreaking she had to put him to sleep, feeling like she had a part to play in his death, how useless she had been unable to save him. She couldn't stop thinking about him and yet she couldn't stand the pain of knowing he was gone, hoping to forget him would save her from the agony. I told her:

"Hey... Take care, Doggie must be glad that you all were with him when he was gone. I truly understand your heartache, 13 years of love just gone like that. Life without him suddenly will be different, but as the old(I actually smsed orhbiang to try cheer her up) saying goes, time will heal the pain. You won't be able to forget him. He will rest peacefully in a corner of your heart. You felt that his death was worse than a person's, that because he's dear to you, and a family member. The healing is going to be a slow and painful journey, but you'll get over it. At least Doggie had gave you beautiful memories for you to think of him. Asking to cheer up is no useful now, instead, cry when you think of him. This way, the tears will dried up, rise and go to him. He's definitely in heaven waiting to receive your tears."

Sounded corny, but they were sincere words. I did wish he did not have to go in such a way.