Sad News

Journal Entry
January 17, 2006
Vancouver, Canada

My Dad called me this morning. It was 8:30 am for me so I didn't answer it. Now, admittedly I didn't want to rack up the long distance minutes on my phone but I was also fast asleep.
I got up a few hours later and checked my messages to find that the day I knew was coming somewhere, someday along my travels, had a arrived.

Tomorrow evening my beloved Buffy will be put down, laid to rest. I only wish that I could be in Toronto tomorrow to hold her, kiss her head and say good bye. It's really hard for me to not be at home as this is going on. Apparently her back legs have reached the point where she can no longer stand on her own, for anything. So, the decision is clear but it certainly doesn't make it hurt any less. One thing I am thankful for is the timing. I knew this news was coming so I was hoping it would come during a leg of my trip where I was surrounded by loved ones, be it Vancouver or LA. So, I'm glad that tomorrow evening I will still be in Vancouver with Steph and her Grandma. I couldn't be in a better place. Steph has known Buffy as long as I have and she will be able to help me honour her. I think I'll light a candle and have a toast to her long and happy life. It's nice to know that with Steph I can be free to feel whatever I need to feel and know that I am with family. That I am loved and supported and able to just be me...happy, sad or otherwise.

It will be so strange to get home in April and not hear the pitter patter of her little feet on the hardwood floor. To see those big ears perk up at the sound of the door or just have the warmth of her presence in the room.

In hearing this sad news my mind wandered back to one summer day 15 years ago.


- THE FIRST TIME I MET BUFFY -

I will never forget it. It was the middle of July and the year was 1991. It was visitor's day at Camp Kawabi and I was eagerly awaiting the arrival of my parents. It was the first year that I was staying for a whole month and so my first visitor's day experience.

Kawabi was abuzz with parents, siblings and other family members pouring in by the minivan load. I couldn't wait to see my parents. Not so much because I was homesick, cause I wasn't, but because I was looking forward to hugs and hopefully a surprise of some kind. You know like fresh magazines and maybe even some candy or munchies if I was extra lucky.
I was walking behind the lodge near the trampoline when I spotted my Dad (hard to miss at almost 6'5"). They were headed up to the old craft shop (which I'm pretty sure was still the only at the time) and turned when I called out to them. As we headed towards each other a little grey bundle of energy, with huge ears and no tail, came charging out from amongst their feet, tugging relentlessly at it's leash.
At first glance I thought it was our good friends' dog Ragamuffin but as I knelt down to pet this yapping bundle of nerves I realized it was not Ragamuffin at all. Imagine my surprise and excitement when my Dad and Janet introduced me to Buffy, the newest member of our family.
I fell in love with her immediately and wanted to hold her, walk her, play with her, know everything about her. Where she came from, how she got her name, everything I could possibly know.
Her name was Lady when my Dad's co-worker found her abandoned, leash still on, wondering around a park. After rescuing her, it quickly became clear to my folks that cute as she was, a Lady she was not. So, they renamed her Buffy (*it should be noted that this was 1991 remember so not even the "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" movie had come out yet).

As we walked to the crisp, new, white, G3 tent at the corner of the girls tent line my folks proceeded to tell me, and explain, her full name. It was, in fact, Little Lady Buffy Gypsy Queen. Little, because she was. Lady, because some jackass had already given her that horrible name. Buffy, her new name, and Gypsy Queen because my folks quickly discovered her love of wandering off whenever, wherever her little heart desired (usually tempted by bread or chicken bones we would come to discover).

Shortly after arriving at my tent and finishing the full name explanation, Buffy would prove her name true. Within seconds of being freed of her leash, my Dad, Janet and I were doing circles around the general tent area, inside and out, trying to find and then capture her majesty the gypsy queen. Clearly her name was a fit!

That was just the first of many visitor's days at Kawabi when I would eagerly await a visit from my little Buffy...oh and my parents too! It was many a year that I would see my folks arrive and run straight to Buffy prompting a remark from my father somewhere along the lines of "What am I? Chopped liver?"

Buffy always knew when one of us was down and needed her for a snuggle. She would always guard the door with everything she had in her tiny 14 pound body and despite all the yapping she always brought smiles to the faces of those around her. She was one of the most special souls I've known and my first dog. I can't believe her body is no longer with us, but I know her heart lives on in mine and so many others who she touched.

Rest In Peace my Buffykins. We will miss you dearly. Please watch over us all in death as you did in life. I love you forever!

Buffy
1990-2006