Sunday Morning - “Pi & Unconditional Love”
Good morning, happy Sunday & I hope this finds you & all those in your circle of love healthy & happy :-)
I have always looked for moments, stories or anything that moves or inspires me to write about. A special dog in our neighborhood has done just that. So much so, that I wrote a message about Pi awhile back. Two weeks ago, I saw him and his owner walking him when I was coming or going. Pi saw me before his owner and he came hopping over to me. Pi has three legs due to a car accident 5 years ago. We became friends awhile back and the owner told me then he doesn’t always let people in. Pi let me in and every time he sees me I get licks to the face, which I enjoy. On that day, while Pi was giving me love she said, “He doesn’t do that with anyone!” Which made me feel even better. That day I reflected on how good Pi made me feel. Going through a tough time, maybe not feeling love… it was something I cannot explain, but it meant a lot to me; Pi’s love and how it made me feel. The very next day I crossed paths again with Pi. This time his owner and him were in the front of my apartment. Pi looked up, saw me, but didn’t come hopping over to me like normally. His owner explained he had arthritis and that on the colder mornings, which it was, his joints were tight and stiff. So I walked over to him. For a quick moment I thought what a bummer, three legs, arthritis, stiff joints… how can I complain about my day? And as I bent down close to Pi, there came his amazing ability to give love. He licked my face like nothing was wrong with him, like he knew “I” needed his unconditional love. He was right. I felt tears for a quick second, looked at Pi’s owner and said jokingly “Stop having Pi make me cry”, smiled and walked away. Once again, I reflected on how it was that this dog, with seemingly overwhelming challenges and obstacles piled up on his path, wanted to give me love and again, maybe knew I needed it. I was truly moved and thankful for my friend Pi and his amazing ability to give love.
This past Thursday I received this:
You all either know how cool Pi is, or you know how much he means to me. I had to put Pi down last night. I was so relieved that it wasn’t his heart. He actually had a very aggressive form of cancer that is quite common in older dogs, so aggressive that when I took him in for an ultrasound for his heart in August, he was clear. So he developed this cancer over the last few months. There were no symptoms, and he wasn’t in any pain.
If I could have decided how he would have spent his last day on earth, he would have spent it the exact same way. Since it was Wednesday, he met his girlfriend, Stella, at Urban Dog like he does every Wednesday. He played with her all day and got to see the people who rescued him 5 years ago after his car accident. When I picked him up, he was extremely lethargic. I took him home and when he didn’t eat his favorite treat (that he eats even when he’s full), and he was still not standing on his own, I took him to the emergency vet. She found that he had tumors in his spleen and liver and was bleeding into his abdomen, so we decided that before things got worse, we should handle it now. So with my mom, dad and sister all petting him, I kissed him on the top of the head and told him how much I loved him until he fell asleep.
Yes, I cried when I received it. Then, I thought about last week when I saw him, and how much more it affected me. Not only was he cold, stiff, suffering from arthritis and unable to move very well on his three legs, he also had cancer and tumors in his body… and none of that, stopped him from giving me love, which somehow he knew I needed. When I put my 15-year-old Rottweiler “Kyosa” down 4 years ago, I explained that he was the one who taught me what unconditional love was. Once again, it was an amazing dog that I was fortunate enough to get to know, that reinforced unconditional love and the giving of it. For that, I will always be thankful to have met Pi, be his buddy and for the love and lessons he shared with me.
peace & God bless
tjd
