Thursday, November 15, 2012

Day 15 NaBloPoMo

Today's NaBloPoMo prompt:  Tell us about your favorite pet.

I have had a few much-beloved pets in my life, and it seems wrong to pick a favorite. . . almost like picking a favorite child.  (For the record, I don't have a favorite between AJ & MJ, truly.)  I have written quite a bit here about Sebastian, my golden retriever who died last summer after having a hemangiosarcoma burst in his heart.  He was a wonderful pet.

During my childhood, we also had two other dogs that I loved a lot.  The first, Angie, was a St. Bernard who came to live with us as an adult dog when I was about 5 and she was about the same age.  Angie was very tolerant: my sister and I used to ride on her back like a horse, and when she got tired of this, she would simply sit down, causing you to slide off.  She died of a stroke when I was 8 years old.

The next dog I particularly loved was Blackie.  She was a stray, a small mixed-breed of 15-20 lbs, that my sister and I convinced our father to let us take in during the time my parents were getting divorced (when I was 9 years old).  Blackie was loving and patient.  She lived a long life.  My father had to have her put to sleep due to a number of worsening chronic ailments when she was around 18-19 years old.

Lest you think I have only ever had dogs, we also had two different cats during my childhood, a goldfish and a tadpole.  (I never got to have the guinea pig I agitated for because my grandmother threatened to move back to Ireland if I got one.)


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