Piper and Being Happy to be Sad

I cried during Titanic. Not for the reasons you’re probably thinking, though. It wasn’t that Jack died in the end or that Rose was caught between a partner who was rich and safe and another who was passionate and poor. Or the devastating loss of almost an entire ship of passengers. I cried about our beloved family dog Belle who’d died soon before the movie came out. There I was in the theater and some random scene reminded me of Belle and it took all my effort to not just straight out bawl. Isn’t it strange how something completely unrelated to our hearts breaking can break our hearts again?

I’m currently going through another major loss. A couple of weeks ago, Piper, the first dog I had as a companion in my adult life, had her last day.

Enjoying a delicious pup cup from Starbucks on her last day

I’m not even close to over it, sometimes having to hide in Walmart so no one sees my watery eyes or another time holding myself together in church when all I could think about was casually twirling her long ears, the way I did when she and I were together. There are songs I can’t listen to, places I can’t go, bites of bananas I leave for her that she’ll never eat again. Sometimes it’s all so overwhelming. I think of myself as a writer but sometimes it’s better to just leave it to the professionals so I’ll conclude today’s post with two things I heard recently, both from a great movie called The Penguin Lessons. Towards the end of the movie the main character had learned his lesson and had this to say…

I’m sad, but I’m happy that I’m sad.

It’s nice to feel things, isn’t it? I don’t enjoy being sad about Piper but all this sadness is just proof that she and I had a wonderful time together and that makes me happy. The next quote is in the movie as a retelling of a poem by Charlotte Mew. Not exactly about a dog and yet, Piper is all I can think about.

Seventeen years ago you said
Something that sounded like Good-bye;
And everybody thinks that you are dead,
But I.

So I, as I grow stiff and cold
To this and that say Good-bye too;
And everybody sees that I am old
But you.

And one fine morning in a sunny lane
Some boy and girl will meet and kiss and swear
That nobody can love their way again
While over there
You will have smiled, I shall have tossed your hair.

I’m posting 15 memories/stories about the awesome and incredible Piper, who was 15 years old, so if you want to catch up on the past few, read below. You can also subscribe to get notified for each daily post. Thanks for reading today…