firecrackers

One of our dogs died today, Fuji. She had been with us for more than 10 years. Every New Year's eve, she always hid at the back of the house, scared of the sound of the firecrackers. I remember, there was even a time when she surprised us by leaping over a 5 feet wall (with the help of the washing machine) because of the noise.  We laughed.  She was not a big dog, and looking at her, you'd never know she would be able to jump that high.

A few days before she died she can no longer stand up. Her legs were twisted with arthritis and she refused to eat. We all knew it was only a matter of time. My aunt and mom were always telling me that we should just have her "put to sleep". I refused. She had survived a lot of things before and came back stronger than ever, I feel like she deserved all the life she can get. I did my best to take care of her. I imagined her, an old dog, closing her eyes, dying peacefully in her sleep.

But it wasn't like that at all. It got to the point where it was painful to just look at her. She was so thin and, yesterday, she had saliva dripping from her mouth. She was barking (sort of) and we couldn't do anything but wait. She died with her eyes open. We buried her this morning. In the afternoon, we saw a butterfly with purple spots in the place where she died. I believe it was her, saying goodbye.

It's now 5:14 pm here and already I can hear firecrackers outside. The usual stuff: trianggulo, plapla, bawang, etc. Looking at them, you'd never know they were packing so much power and could make that much noise. What a way to end the year, crying while writing a blog entry. I miss her.