Time Warp Tuesday

Okay, so I mentioned last week about all the photos I have to scan into my computer---copious amounts! I also mentioned my fear of looking at a photo and not remembering. Forgetting who is in the picture with me, what I was doing on that day and who I was with. It's clearly not realistic to remember everything about one's life, because there are certainly photos I look at and have no memory of whatsoever. But there are some that I have vivid memories of, memories that I don't ever want to forget or to fade, so I am going to start posting some pictures/stories on here. They are not going to go in any particular order, just a pick of whatever I managed to scan in this week.



My love of dogs started at a very early age: Shadow was the first dog that was in my family and I adored him. This clearly was in the late 80s early 90s because, hello haircut and random neon clothes. And I am pretty sure my big wheel is in the back of that picture.

Shadow the cockapoo. He was my first dog; my best dog. I got him for a birthday present when I was six. My whole family sat outside on the deck in a circle and watched me open my gifts. Saving the best for last, my uncle carried in this huge cardboard box from his car, and I stood there staring at it for a good five minutes before I opened it. I finally peeked inside, and as you can probably tell from the "WTF" look on my face, Shadow was a big surprise for me. I lifted him carefully out of the box and just carried him around, showing him off to everyone. Then we ran around on the grass, up and down the hill; we became fast friends.

I am an only child so Shadow was quite the playmate. My whole family loved him, cause, well, he was a great dog. He got his name because he followed us everywhere, even into the washroom. We were buddies; he was like my little dog brother. He wasn't perfect by any means, every damn year he would run through one of the screen doors, every year. Eventually we started taking pictures of him with the broken screen, and a sign that said "Screen of insert year". He was such a cute dog; scruffy and friendly, my favourite kind. He walked horribly on a leash, barked like crazy at the smallest things, and jumped in the air like a kangaroo. He loved to swim, and he would float around the pool all the time on a raft. He played a mean game of fetch, and he just loved to be wherever we were.

One year we were on vacation, about two hours away from home. My aunt and grandma were watching the dog. We were about halfway through our vacation when we got a frantic call from my grandma saying, Shadow is sick, he's at the vets, you have to come home now if you want to see him. It broke my heart, and it actually still makes me tear up when I think about it. God, I loved that dog. We drove back home, the only sound being me sobbing quietly in the backseat.

We arrived at the vets where Shadow was being kept: it turned out he had a liver condition, and he was going to die. We had to have him put down the day after we got home. I can honestly say that part of the reason I don't have a dog right now is because I know first hand (it happened to me twice) how horrible it is when they are gone. Shadow was such a huge part of my life, then he just wasn't there. I was a little bit broken.

Shadow was my first experience with death and loss. I was 13 when he died, and I hadn't at that point had to go to any funerals of anyone close to me. I was hurting. My mom decided we were going to have a wake for Shadow, which crazy as it sounds, helped immensely. Everybody, family and friends, came over to our house, and shared their favourite memories of my dog. Most were funny stories, and it made me feel a whole lot better. I couldn't tell my own story, because I was just too sad, but hearing everybody else's...well, it was extremely nice of them to do that for me. For my family. Anybody who thinks, it's just a dog, has never had a dog.

The day I got Shadow is a favourite memory of mine because it was the beginning of a great relationship. He's the reason I love dogs so much now, and I will never, ever forget what a great little guy he was.