Crazy In Love

Sam died yesterday.

Sam became a member of our family in late 2008, when he was just a young lad of 8.  His owners were expecting twins and of their two dogs they decided to get rid of Sam (whose name was then “Max” but we had to change it because we already had a Max in our family, and Sam never seemed to mind the change).  Prior to living with them he had been homeless.  It was assumed that some military family had left him behind and Sam was left to roam the area.  People would leave food out for him and take him in from time to time in the bitter northern NY winter, but he was a free man until they took him in.  After less than a year together they decided to get rid of him and I would like to say that I can’t understand why… but I sort of can.  Sam was an independent spirit and wasn’t going to let anyone change him.  One could say that Sam was sort of an asshole.  He barked any time he wanted something, he whined if he wasn’t allowed on the bed and wished to be on it (he was too short and heavy to get up on his own), he’d bother you with every trick in his book when he wanted food, a romp outside, … anything.  He also, and I assume this to be an unfortunate side effect of being on the streets for so long, had a strong affinity for eating poo.  He’d eat anything, but really seemed to love poo — he was rarely happier in the last couple of weeks than when he was sneaking and snacking on John’s diapers.  Ew!

While I am very aware of his bad habits, I also am no stranger to all the things that made Sam wonderful.  Sam snuggled with me EVERY night that Noah was deployed.  It was a twin bed and even Max abandoned me many nights to take up residence in my parents’ king size bed, but Sam stayed by my side all night, every night.  He also had a very calming, charming snore that created a lovely white noise soundtrack for my nights.  Sam was a snuggler, he was a character, he was undoubtedly handsome, and he looked great in a hat.  He was my little old man.

Sam is missed but I take solace in knowing that he’s up in Heaven with Max.  Sammy & Max, together again, forever.

This is definitely the end of an era for me.  For many years it was me and my boys, Sam & Max.  They were my babies, albeit furry, and I truly feel as if I loved them as as a mother and not as an owner.  My heart aches with this loss as it still aches when I think of my Maxy being absent these last 6 months.  (Wow — I just realized that it’s been 6 mos. since Max died and it honestly feels so raw still.)  Sam was a good friend and a good dog.

Now our little family is totally changed, from Noah and me with our stinky boy furbabies to us with our child and our more low-maintenance lab Mac.  It feels different.  But it doesn’t feel wrong.

I told you he looked good in a hat.

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 20th, 2010 at 11:36 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.