The Most Precious Gift

I knew from the moment I saw her picture that Summer was my dog.

I can't tell you what it was about her...but I had to have her. I think the forces knew too because everything that needed to happen for me to get her, happened.

My landlord, who up until then would only allow dogs 30 lbs or less in the building, said I could get a dog Summer's size.

Summer needed a home with no stairs and a person with a low car because of her arthritis...done and done. (I have stairs but they only lead to my studio...not anywhere she would have to go).

I found out that Carole was going to entrust this beautiful baby to me on a Monday. I was not going to be able to pick her up until that Saturday, March 15th. Talk about a LONG week. My boyfriend and I were so excited. He found this website where you can put in a future time and it will give you hours, minutes and seconds until that time. He would send me random emails with just times in them ie: "345,600 SECONDS UNTIL DOGGY!"

On Saturday, I got up early because I couldn't sleep. I left early to get her and that's a good thing because I was so excited that I got lost a few times heading down to Orange County. (I'm sure Carole was doubting my intelligence at that time wondering how I could get lost in the 5 minutes since I last talked to her!!!) I was so nervous and shaking with excitement that I guess I couldn't quite see straight because those signs said something different the first time I passed them!!!

I finally made it and saw her for the first time in person and she was beautiful. A little scruffy and a bit overweight but she was beautiful. Technically, I was going to foster her first but I knew from that first second that I was going to be a failure. I threw her in the car (well...not throw exactly....heaved is more like it) and escaped before Carole came to her senses and decided that I was too dim witted to be a parent to this wonderful baby.

Summer was calm and reserved those first 2 weeks or so. She would follow me everywhere. I started taking her on short walks. She had trouble going through doors (we nicknamed her the "Doork") and would bark at herself in the mirror. At first she had no interest in toys and would always hesitate a few minutes before she would eat.

I adopted her officially 2 weeks later and its funny, I don't remember that specific date because I knew she was mine from March 15th...so that is the day I considered her adopted. It's also funny that the moment the paperwork was signed...she became the CWAZY DAWG! Denise brought her a toy bone and she FINALLY played with a toy. She loved her Harry Barker bones. She would toss them in the air and try to catch them. She would chase them down the hallway. We nicknamed her the Perk-o-lator.

We went on long walks and she would bust out a short run. If she saw another dog she would puff out her chest and trot like she was a show dog. Remember those stairs that she couldn't climb? She climbed them...arthritis smarthritis. She was amazing.

She showed her obsessive love for anything she could eat after that. She LOVED her food. The once reserved dog who would wait to eat would practically knock me over in an attempt to get her nose in the kibble can. She would literally do circles in the kitchen waiting for me to give her her food. "Hurry up Mom! I'm STARVIN"!! She would think that no matter what I was doing in the kitchen me being in there meant that SHE was gonna get food. She also thought that paper, socks, dish towels, bike gloves and kleenex were food. I became a much cleaner person with her in the house.

She became famous (or infamous?) in the neighborhood. I would leave the balcony door open for her and she loved just laying out there with her head resting on the bottom rung of the railing. She made herself known to everyone...especially those who walked their dogs past her because she would bark at them. For whatever reason, Sums was not great around other dogs. I nicknamed her Snarky Barker and told her that if she didn't want to sound like a game show host, she had to stop barking at other dogs!

I imagine her barking down to those other dogs as if to say "You are SO lucky you are down there and I I am up here because I AM the QUEEN of this neighborhood and YOU are only walking in it because I say so!"

People would come up to me while I was walking her squealing "Oh thats the doggy from up there! She sooooo cute, pretty, beautiful....I see her up there everyday" I nicknamed her the Neighborhood Watch.

She would play and be so funny. She would do a donut and dive into the floor then roll onto her back. She would cross her front paws and do her "back dance". She was so funny. I nicknamed her Kooky Magooky.

If I tried doing anything on the computer she would come up and put her nose under my hand and lift it away from the keys. After I got my laptop she would ram her nose into the cover to close it as if to say. "those hands should be petting me!" When I was sleeping and she thought it was time for me to get up and feed her, she would come up to the bed and jab her nose into my face...or UNDER my face and lift...and continue to do that until I acknowledged her presence...and I could never get her to sleep past 6:30am! "Come ON, Mom!!! I'm STARVIN'!" I tried telling her that we got to sleep late on weekends but she wouldn't have it. I nicknamed her Demando.

My Summer was diagnosed with lung cancer after she had a seizure in April. Although I would not put her through the tests, they were quite sure that it had spread (or maybe started) in her brain and that tumor is what caused her seizures. It took us completely by surprise because she was doing so well. Mark had even nicknamed her Summer Button because she seemed to be getting younger everyday. We put her on phenobarbitol to hopefully stop the seizures but at her age (12), there was nothing to be done for the cancer. We were just gonna make her as happy as possible for as long as possible and after her body adjusted to the drug, she was back to her "normal" kooky self.

Last Thursday, my beautiful Baby Sums let me know that it was time to let her go. She went to sleep knowing that she was dearly loved by everyone who met her and especially by Mark and me.

People would always say to me that Summer was lucky that I rescued her. That may have been true but I think it was Mark and I who were the lucky ones...me especially because I got to be with her everyday for 2 days shy of 16 months. I got to see her blossom into the dog she was for almost the entire time she was in my life. Sums made me a better person. She made me happy when I was sad with just looking at me with those amazing eyes. She would watch over me when I slept, even if it was from the other room, and I would be comforted knowing she was near. She showed me what amazing things can be done when you just decide to do it (the stairs). Summer made me laugh with her craziness. We are the lucky ones to have been blessed with the most precious gift we could ever have been given...Summer's unconditional love. I am blessed and honored to be able to say that I was Summer's Mom. I miss her so very very much.

I also know that I am the lucky one because I am going to be running with my dog on marathon day. And everyday until then. And every day after. Because I know my beautiful angel Baby Sums, (the Cwazy, Doork, Perk-o-lator, Snarky Barker, Kooky Magooky, Summer Button, Neighborhood Watch, Demando, DAWG) will be by side, running next to me like she couldn't here...saying "HURRY UP MOM...I'M STARVIN'!

I will be running the marathon for all our Goldens but I will finish in loving memory of my most precious gift.