Macy Girl

Oh my heart! Last week we had to say goodbye to a member of my family. We got Macy when I was about 13 or 14—sometime in junior high. My little brother, Cort, was begging for a dog and my parents finally caved. I remember driving to some far away pet store to pick out a dog with my mom and Cort. There was a litter of puppies, but we were deciding between Macy and her brother. Her brother was rambunctious and noisy. Macy was quiet, scared, and had her tail between her legs. I picked her up and petted her for a few minutes. When I tried to put her down she didn’t let me. She just wanted to be curled up in my arms. I told my mom I wasn’t going to be able to put her down so we chose her and drove her home. She was terrified when we took her home and gave her a first bath. She only really ever became comfortable around my family. She was always an anxious dog. Of course she liked to play, but she never let anyone in our family get too rowdy. She was a peacemaker. In fact, the only way we could get her to “come” is if we started to pretend fight. Then she would come running over to break up the roughhousing.

When Dave and I would come over for Sunday dinners, she would patiently wait for dinner to end and then as soon as we would get up out of our chairs she would give us a certain look. The “please take me on a walk look.” And then we would ask her if she, “wanted to go on a walk?” and she would get so excited!

Even after moving away to college and getting married, I still considered her my dog. I mean she was kind of like my sister and we shared a room all throughout high school.

Last winter she started to lose weight. At first it seemed like it might be good for her as she could spare to drop a few. But then a couple of weeks ago it got really bad and she wasn’t eating much at all. It was hard to watch because she usually loved food. She got so frail. We took her to the vet and found out she was anemic and most likely had stomach cancer. She lived about two weeks after that and it was terribly hard to watch her health decline.

One Wednesday afternoon, I went over to visit her and she seemed so miserable. She couldn’t stand up, not even for a walk. I sat with her for a few hours and she started to have seizures. My whole family came over and we sat with her for a while before we knew it was time to take her to the vet to be put down. Ugh, I don’t want to relive that, but she was so brave.

My mom asked me to bring the camera to take some photos of her on the last Sunday she was alive. I’m so glad I captured some footage and photos of her. I threw a video together from that day, and although it’s not much, I’m so glad I have it so I can always remember.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how freaking cool it is that humans can have bonds with animals. I don’t think I’ve ever fully appreciated it until now. I’ll miss that girl and her happy, wagging tail and friendly smile.