Daily prompt: Menagerie

Tags

companions, loss, pets, postaday2015

Do you have animals in your life? If yes, what do they mean to you? If no, why have you opted not to?

I am going to be away from home for the next  few days and already my lap feels empty and naked without fatty Magoo  and skinny Magee. 

   

   

   

 

I would never tell our two dogs this, but recently I have been missing Rex a lot, he was a magnificent dog and I miss his big head,, he would put his head right up to my face to will me to wake up, it worked every single time and at night he would rattle the house when he would let his big head drop to the floor after deciding that he was ready to lay down completely.
I also miss Marshall the black Lab and Tuck our eccentric Beagle ; they were very special, each in his own way. I had wondered to my husband if Marshall had been happy, but when we started to reminisce about his life with us, we decided that a dog who would not even put a piece of steak in his mouth because it had some gristle or a little too much fat on it, couldn’t have been too sad and his tail had always been high and perky whenever he agreed to go outside, he was most certainly a character; as was Tuck, who was very discerning with people as well as with his food. Tuck  had been the most dainty eater, however if there had been the slightest threat that his morsel might have gone to either Marshall or Rex, he would have gobbled it down no matter how hot it was or how big it was, it was his and no one else was ever going to have it.

Rex’s only concern was for the well-being of his family, if the family was all squared away, then and only then would he allow himself to relax and that was when his singular obsession with the ball, any type of ball, would appear. He would stare at you and then at the ball and wait for you to throw his beloved ball so that he could retrieve it and he was such an athletic dog, he would jump so high vertically and catch the ball directly with his jaws of steel, no matter how hard it was thrown or kicked at him. He was such a gentle giant, a tremendous babysitter and a phenomenal companion. 

I warned you that I was really missing Rex as of late, these feelings come in waves, though the love always stays constant, the missing part flows and ebbs, thankfully because I wouldn’t want to miss him this strongly all of the time.

Pets are a definite blessing in life.
   
       

That unexpected phone call

Tags

communication, loss, parents, phone, postaday2013

You receive a call from someone you don’t expect. Who is it, and what is the conversation about?

The one person this question brings to mind would be my father. It will be 10 years this February 25 that my father was killed and if the phone rang and his voice was on the other end, it would definitely be an unexpected yet welcome phone call.

My father comes to mind because he, unlike me, loved the phone. When he would be at home in the morning, he would take a break from his morning chores and start dialing, I would usually be the first call on his list and he and I would talk about everything under the sun and he called everyday. He especially loved to hear about the latest antics that either the baby boy or the baby girl would be pulling off. We talked endlessly about food, recipes and future concoctions. Politics was probably our favorite subject because politics encompasses everything; sociology, psychology, economics and history. We would spend at least an hour every day talking. It took me a long time to wean myself away from the huge void left in my life and my heart when my father was taken from me.

I can now honestly say that whenever I think of him and it is all the time, the sides of my eyes crinkle upwards, because it's a memory of someone that I loved unconditionally and I keep that alive in my heart. I think that it's true what they say about love, since it's energy, it can never die. I am grateful for that.