By Jan Vicente B. Pekas
The distance of our house to the city meant a lot more time had to be prioritized in going home, lest we get caught up in traffic. Weekends were days to help out with this paper. The time after dismissals for all the homework and eating. The days before college were almost always strictly structured. The schedule was always the same, once 5 arrives, the travel back home starts.
Free time was to be spent at home. With only the three of us inside the house, our many dogs were our company for most of the week.
Many of them had come and gone. Including our cats, there were those that were with us from my baby years till I was in elementary. They always lived long years, maybe thanks to the better air outside the city. Misfortunes came to some of them and we had to bid farewell many times.
They never failed to do their duties and guard the house. Eat well and keep us company. The house never felt isolated with their barks to greet us whenever we arrived home and frustratingly in the middle of the night. Many days of arriving late in school were caused by their untimely excitement.
At some point, with time moving ever forward, we lose the veterans. Our guardians who have been with us for a long time. Sickness got to them easily given their old age. They fought against these but some of them succumbed.
Especially in the pandemic, their company was one of the factors that made that time bearable. Now that school started again, night classes are a thing, the days become more structured, leaving only a few moments to be spent with them.
Two of our dogs are in their senior years and their resilience can only help them for some time. The harsh part of being attached to them comes eventually, when we have to bid farewell again.
One of them is Rocky. At 7 years old, he is a senior already in dog kingdom. A golden retriever looking like a lion, he is always in our mini-wilderness hunting for rats or whatever.
Our pets are a big part of my early years and to all the people who llived with us. To lose them is to also lose a part of ourselves. To see them suffer from illness also steals from us, but slowly.
Our pets rarely complain, even when the food is always the same. They are reliable and, in these times, it is time for us to be reliable for them. Their senior years are few but the heart must give back all it can for their years of dedication to the family. We must be there for them as they had been there for us, always on time, whenever we came home.
A man’s best friend is a friend to all. And since all dogs go to heaven, it makes the farewells bittersweet.
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