If you miss the old days of grandma's kitchen or your own mother's old fashioned cozy home, you can reconnect here and get a flavor for all things vintage, warm, cozy, special, and memorable!

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

My Special Little Buddy, Maximus....R.I.P. May 4th, 2012

Yes, it has been a long time since my last post.  I was quite busy, getting a temporary job.  It is an administrative position.  I love to be working and I love my job, but I miss my blog writing.  Sharing my insights and a little bit of myself with all of you while I painstakingly searched for a job kept my mind busy, my heart in good form, and freed me from the negative thoughts that so often crept in as I went from interview to interview.  This drama, while full of disappointment and despair some of the time, was probably one of the most emotional experiences (aside from the birth of my three children) I have ever had and without this page to cheer me I don't know where I would be today.

Being able to share photographs of the things I love and to talk about them straight from my heart kept me balanced and focused on what is important in life.  There are memories and happy thoughts that came to mind with each item I photographed and wrote about here.  Sometimes its the little things in our past when things were more stable that move me to keep trying.  This post today is about the things in our (vintage) house that keep us focused on the important happy times and provide the escape we need to bear the burden of difficult times, be it financial or otherwise.

Last week, my Westie Maximus died.  He had been with me since the fall of 2002, purchased from a breeder in Bridgeport.  I remember so vividly the day I picked him up and fell in love immediately.  He was so little, his big ears perched on his tiny head, everything puppy!  The gentleman I bought him from warned me to bring the money to pay him because he knew I would want Maximus (named after the Gladiator in the Russel Crowe movie).  Anyway, I have had him all this time when suddenly Maximus had begun to slow down and breathe heavy about four months ago.  He seemed to have to keep looking up at the high walls of my house in order to breathe.  The vet, after taking a blood sample and performing an X-ray, said that Max had an enlarged heart and liver and that his white blood cell count was high.  I asked about the pain level that Max was experiencing and the vet did not know how to measure that. As you may have heard, dogs do not always show they are in pain, they barely wimper.  It is a tough thing to gauge.  I was provided with pain pills, a steroid for inflammation (which may or may not work, but certainly cannot hurt) and an antibiotic to address the high white bc.  Cancer had crept into the conversation, but unless I was willing to open up Maximus and get to see his insides, there was no way to tell if that was the issue.

He lost about a pound a month. He continued to play, albeit at a slower pace, and he continued to eat and wag his tail.  While he never was really good about jumping up on the furniture without help from me, he continued to try to do it himself.  I knew that if one day he just refused to do any of these things, then it would be time to take him for his last visit to see the vet.

He was a great dog!  I would have him on my lap and rub his soft ears and whisper, Maximus...I love you!" and he let me.  He snapped at others if they got too close, but not me!  And he played with his buddy Kozmo, my other Westie, brought into the family two years after Max.  They were great playmates, and even though at the beginning Max was suspicious and standoffish with Kozmo, they eventually became joined at the hip, literally as I took them both for a walk and they trotted along. 


Max slept allot in his cage at night with Kozmo, but near the end, I eventually began letting the two of them sleep in my bed.  They were so well trained to trot into their cage as they heard the click of the TV remote signaling the end of the day.  But I decided I wanted to be close to Max as the end drew near and sort of wish I had let him have this sooner.  I took him to an All Dogs Playgroup through a Meet Up club and he ran around with other dogs and never became threatening or difficult to handle.  He stayed near me all the time in my house and always seemed to be looking up at me for something and I always addressed it.   He took off on me a few times out the door and down the street to the hole in the fence by the river nearby and would come home long after I had accepted that he ran away, his fur full of burrs and wet from walking around in the river.  But he always came home.

After what had to be a difficult four months, his heart, I am sure, finally gave out.  I miss him terribly but have plenty of photographs to share of him and memories of him and my children to last  me a long time.  I do not know if I will ever replace him.  I couldn't find another dog just like him with his soft and gentle demeanor, at least I don't think so from here.  For now, I will enjoy the company of his "brother" and buddy Kozmo and smile when see him running around, fake growling at his play buddy Dakota (a black lab that came into my house a year or so ago via the kids father) and just be glad I had Maximus for the time that I did.

Who brings you joy in your vintage home?  Is it a small dog, or a big dog?  Is it a bird or other type of pet?  Pets are a part of the fabric of families and life.  They help us to forget the tough times and are there for us when we are joyful as well.  They add a warm fuzzy flavor to our household and watch us when we forget to watch ourselves.  They ask so little and get so little in return sometimes. They love us unconditionally without negotiation or strings attached. 

If you do not have a pet and want t add something that will love you forever to your life, then adopt a pet.  There are so many homeless and wonderful animals in shelters now that need us and whether you admit it or not...you need them also!  Think about it and let me know what you did today to make this something you will do.  I want to know if you took my advice and are happy or are considering adopting a pet and are ready to make it a reality. 

Bye for now. 

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