This past weekend, I lost my companion.
After having the last few days to kind of feel the loss and grieve, I have begun to reflect on my relationship with him.
Chewbacca was a rescue dog, he was half starved and weak when he first came to live with us on that New Years Eve. I remember thinking to myself the first few days that he looked how I felt at the time. Slowly but surely he began to put some weight back on, and his boxer energy began to return.
We lived in a pretty run down neighborhood in Detroit. Our next door neighbors were less than desirable on most accounts, and especially where our dog Chino was concerned. One of our neighbor's favorite pastimes was to torture Chino when he would come out to use the bathroom. Because it was wintertime it was happening less, and up until this time they had not met Chewbacca. This particular time Chino had gone out first, and to my disappointment I immediately heard the neighbor boy and his friend begin to laugh and throw snowballs at Chino. At the same time, Chewy reached the top of the stairs and came out of the door. The taller boy ran up to the fence and threw a huge snowball out in the yard towards Chino. As they were laughing, if you can imagine an airborne boxer, front paws well up and over the fence, "shoving" the boy back from the fence. Chewy's two front paws hitting him at about the shoulders, followed by an extremely girly scream as the boy fell back into the snow. It was as if Chewy was telling the neighbors to stop picking on little helpless Chino. I am still chuckling as I write this. Chewy never made a sound. He just did this "ninja" move and then stood there, daring them to do something else. Chewy had a way of introducing himself....lol
My next memory that sticks out was on a pretty rough night for me. Most know now that my brother is currently fighting brain cancer. A few days after his first surgery, we learned of the cancer type, and the prognosis was extremely bad. The years I had always taken for granted were now reduced to a few short expected months. After getting the news earlier in the day, I remember not being able to sleep that night. I got out of bed in the middle of the night, and went up to sit in the living room. As I sat there thinking, I was overcome with emotion, and just closed my eyes and cried for awhile. After a few moments I noticed something on my lap, which turned out to be chewy's face. He just quietly sat there with me, the whole time, as I repeatedly tried to compose myself. It's funny how dogs just know when you need them, and how willing they are to be there for you.
Even as I write this I am affected by his absence. I am alone at my computer desk late at night, which is new territory for me. He faithfully sat through my late night homework sessions, forgoing his couch until I headed to bed.
Dogs are amazing creatures. They bring so much joy and comfort to our lives. I truly believe they are one of the best things on this planet. Which makes loosing them one of the worst things. Dogs don't care about what you do for a living, what your GPA is, what kind of clothes you wear, or the car that you drive. They only see what really matters; who you are as a person. I love that about them.
Chewbacca inspires me to keep pushing forward, to be the person that he thought I was.
~Steve
