My brother died at a young age, only 12. Well, actually, he died when he was 84. Confused yet? Ok, I lied. I'm an only child. The brother I talked about, his name was Dublin and he is a real person. Well, kind of. As you might have guessed by now, my brother is not human. So what? Just because he's a German Shepard/Beagle mix doesn't mean he isn't my brother; he's just a different kind of brother, a very special one.
I grew up with dogs. Having fur in my cereal is considered normal in my house. I have always had 2 dogs. While other people might think it's weird to say my dogs are my siblings and my puppy is my son, I take pride in letting people know just how much I love my dogs, and what a big part of my family they are. That's why my heart ripped in two and i nearly died from sadness when I found out Dublin had cancer. We had gone to get our dogs blessed with my friend when my parents told me. By the time we had discovered the cancer, it had already spread through his body and there was nothing we could do.
It was almost Thanksgiving and Dublin started getting much much worse. We had to hand feed him and he hardly ever got up. He could barely walk and was so thin you could see his ribs sticking out of his dulled coat. I cried non stop. We went into the city to see my Grandma for Thanksgiving. My parents told me we were going to take Dublin to the vet the next day to see if they could do anything for him. I was so happy, thinking the vet would do something to help Dublin get better and make his last days less painful. I was right. The vet did do something to help, but it didn't make him better.
After I watched the light fade from Dublin's loving brown eyes, the day was a blur. My mind was a jumble of pictures and sounds that did't make sense. I couldn't wrap my mind around the fact that I would never hear the familiar, and annoying squeaks Dublin would made for everything. I would never be able to throw a ball and have it brought back to me(our other dog doesn't understand the 'retrieve' part yet. It's been 13 years so I've stopped trying to teach her.)
After that day, I vowed to never pass up a moment to be with the people and animals I love. I haven't always kept that promise, but I have tried. I cherish every moment I have with Kinsale, my sister, who is now 13. I know everything dies. Everyone knows that. It just never occurred to me that someone I knew could die. In my mind, my family was immortal; they would never grow old or pass away, they would always be there with me. After Dublin's death, that image was shattered. I now realize how fortunate I am that I have dogs, that I have a Mom and a Dad because some people don't have anyone.