My Best Friend

Monday, August 29^th is the day I was forever changed. Sitting on the cold floor of the vet with pajamas on, I realized it was going to be the most difficult night of my entire life. It was midnight. My baby boy walked back into me with a catheter on his leg. He looked at me with such sadness. He knew. He knew that he was about to go, and there was nothing he could do about it. He walked over to my lap, looked me in the eye, and wagged his little stump. The tech asked me if I was “ready?”. How do you respond to that? Yes, I’m ready to lose my entire world…

She inserted the shot and my baby boy fell into my lap. I held him close until she said “he’s gone”. I couldn’t believe it, so I didn’t. I continued to pet him until the sadness overcame my body and I began to weep.

It is insane how much a dog can impact your life. They don’t just impact your life, they become your entire world. Tyson wasn’t a pet but rather so much more. He was my best friend, my confidant, and the love of my life. He never failed me. When I was sad, he would silently do all he could to make me smile. As soon as he got the slightest grin from me, his little “stump” (they cut his tail too short) would wiggle back and forth. In middle school and high school, he would wait at the front window until I got off the school bus and entered his presence. He was just always so welcoming.

It hurts me to say he WAS instead of he IS. It hurts to know that I will never be welcomed by that little smashed in face with a sloppy wet kiss. Whenever I was upset, if simply being near me didn’t work, I knew I could always use his shoulder to cry on. Looking back, there were so many times where I just hugged and hugged and hugged Tyson, until the tears stopped flowing. He never backed away from my hugs, but rather embraced them.

It makes me smile when I think of all the times we ran around the couch together. He would chase me until he finally caught up with me. He’d tackle me and attack me with kisses. During the first week that we got him, I decided to ride my rollerblades around the block. I figured Tyson would love the exercise and attached his leash and took him with me. Everything was fine and dandy until a cat ran across the street. He dragged me so far, we had to be going at least 20 mph. He was determined to catch that cat, but seemed so disappointed when it ran up a tree. My mom and I genuinely thought Tyson didn’t have the ability to bark. So the first time we heard his bark will always stand out to me. I had just bathed him in the drive way and I was waiting for him to dry off so I could take him back inside. All of a sudden, I see him look up into the sky and start growling. I looked up and saw a huge BLIMP! Oh man, that was it, Tyson went nuts. He barked and barked and barked until his vocal cords were raw. I would do anything to hear that bark again. 

 There wasn’t a mean bone in Tyson’s body. We couldn’t even teach him to be aggressive towards strangers.  He never held grudges, no matter what. With a quick scratch of the ear, it didn’t matter what happened, you were forgiven by Tysie. 

Losing Tyson is not something that I had ever thought about before. I never dreamed the pain would be this intense because I never imagined I would lose him. I can’t believe he’s gone. I will never see those curious wrinkles in his forehead again. I will never be able to scratch his white chest. Those big brown eyes were the light at the end of my tunnel….

But through all this, I am thankful. I am thankful that God put a creature in my life that showed me the meaning of life. He taught me forgiveness; something that I had a real hard time with before he came along. Tyson wasn’t just my pet, but rather an eye-opening reminder to not take life for granted.

I miss you Tyson but I know I will meet again with you in Heaven someday. I can’t wait to look into those big brown eyes again and watch that short little tail wag again in pure happiness. I love you more than anyone could ever begin to imagine.This is not good-bye, but rather a "see you later".