Showing posts with label Herbie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Herbie. Show all posts

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Herbie's Home

My big brother Herbie came home tonight. So I went to accompany him for a while in his new resting place. (M: Helios actually automatically went to that corner and lied down for a while after we placed Herbie's ashes there.)



My M says since Herbie didn't get to wear the new collar in the past, he'll get to wear it now. And because the bowl is too big to fit into the hole, she took up a nice DWB doggie's suggestion to put a peekture of his bowl there. And she decided to add bagels as well.

So here's my big brother Herbie with all his worldly possessions.



Welcome home, big brother!

Sunday, October 07, 2007

Thank You

Yes, I know I'm supposed to be gone and not posting anymore, but I saw something and I felt I just have to leave a divine message here.

Firstly I would like to thank everyone for your prayers and kind words to me and my family. I would have tried to console my M that I'm in a better place but then again, she's never those spiritually attuned kind of people so I don't think I can manage to pass her any message.

The humans had a lunch gathering yesterday in my memory, which is good since I love food. They talked about me with love and joked about me as if I'm still there, saying what I would have been doing. Aunty G even allowed Jack and Joey to beg and eat from the lunch table (somethint which she NEVER does) because that would be something that I do, and the lunch is in my memory after all. I think J&J should thank me for that when it's their turn to join me at the rainbow bridge. Aunty G even said that since Jack likes guarding the gate so much, I should reserve a place for him at Heaven's gate. But I'll pity all those timid dogs coming to Heaven who go there because grouchy Jack will bark at all of them.

Uncle M tried to teach Helios how to speak. Unbeknownst to them, before I left, I have already taught Helios my philisophy in life, which is to 'Act Blur, Think Smart'. The less you pretend to know, the less the humans can make you do tricks for a miserable amount of treat. I'm glad that Helios has listened to my teaching and refused to bark.

Huskee's family offered condolences to my M and gave her, besides cards, a nice bear.



and because she said she got a headache from crying, they got her these as well:



They even got Helios a toy!



And Aunty G had bought this for me as a christmas gift, but now she gave it to my M. It's a January golden.



Isn't it nice? But I hope Aunty G had planned to give me something more than the figurine. I mean, it's nice, but it's not EDIBLE.

What baffled me is that, I'm the one who died here, how come they are the ones getting presents? What kind of logic is that? Shouldn't I be getting something, like food? Can't they do an airmail to Heaven? I know I'm supposed to have lots of food here, but there's no harm having MORE.

(M: I'm slowly getting to terms with Herbie leaving. Sometimes I pretend that he's still at Scuba's house, that's why he's not home, then I remember that he's never coming home. I'm ok with a conversation with friends as long as they don't talk about Herbie. Because, sometimes I can talk about him, but sometimes something will trigger off and the tears start.

The nights are the worse, and times when I'm alone. I try to do mundane things to take my mind off. But in the quiet of night, as I lay in bed, I can only think about him. How I can never say goodnight to him again. Herbie had a habit of sleeping on his bed once we go into the room for about 5 minutes, then he'll walk to the other end of the room to sleep on the floor, and throughout the night he'll alternate his sleeping places. I keep imagining the tipaty-tap of his nails as he walks across the floor. I keep getting up early in the morning and once I remember he's gone, I can't get back to sleep.

Sometimes it's the smallest thing that can trigger me off. I try to remember the fond times I had with him, then I realise I'm never gonna do that with him again. When I think about how I will never be able to cut his nails
(H:Thank got for that! You're a baaaad nail cutter!), or hug him, or bring him along as I take photos. A friend told me around the time Herbie began to get sick that her dogs loves Macdonalds Ice Cream and sometimes she'll give it to them as a treat. And I said, one day, I'll bring Herbie and Helios to our nearest Mac for a cone. I waited for Herbie to get better for the nice long walk, but he never did. And he left without eating Macdonalds. (H: Darn!)

His final resting place will never feel the same again. I look at the spot and I remember that's the place he chose to lie down and leave.

I'm glad that I took so many photos of him when he was alive, because there will never be another Herbie.

Friday, October 05, 2007

Thoughts...

I guess this will be the last time I use this name to log in and post here. Gone will be the cynical wise old man who has the audacity to make snide remarks about his human.

Herbie was rejecting food the last 2 days, and I was planning to bring him to the vet this morning. Unfortunately, he left in the middle of the night. My husband said that Herbie was already gone when he went to the kitchen at about 1:30am, and he struggled with the decision whether to wake me up to tell me. In the end he decided against it, because it's the middle of the night, we might not get any pet cremation services and I'll be crying the whole night instead.

Because of the plan to visit the vet, we took him home from Scuba's place last night. I had to carry him down the stairs because he was too weak to walk much. G had suggested that we take him to the vet last night, but as it was already 9pm, I thought I could wait til morning.

I guess Herbie wanted to pass on in his own house. That's why he left a few hours after he reached home. He didn't sleep in our room, because of the aircon. When I left him last night, he was in our study room. But he came to our door and lied down and left. I guess that's the closest he could get to us. I'm sorry that I wasn't with him in his last hours. He was lying on his side, and it almost seemed that he's just sleeping, but without the noisy breathing.

Herbie is the best dog that one can have. He's patient, virtually without temper, quiet and non-imposing. He's also the easiest to feed, when he was healthy. I will miss his ultimate begging look. He's the only dog I personally know who will plonk his head on your lap to beg.



I will miss him sleeping in his favourite spot in the room. I will miss him trying to squeeze his way in while begging. I'll miss giving him his butt rubs and scratching his itchy spot. I'll miss dragging him out to sea. I'll miss bullying him and putting things on his head. I will miss him lying in his roast pig position. I will miss him running into the kitchen once he hears food. I'll miss how he likes to plonk himself down in the middle of the room or passageway, blocking everyone else. I'll miss how he tries to go table by table begging at restaurents or gatherings.

Helios seems totally oblivious to what's going on. Guess he's still young.

I'm sorta holding on well, sometimes I feel that I'm ok, then some things will trigger the memories and I'll start crying. I've been crying so much that I'm getting a headache.

Of course I console myself that at least he died at home. At least he only suffered the last 2 days. Previous weeks he was still able to eat a little. At least I don't have to make the difficult decision whether to put him to sleep if he's suffering. At least he's got a few good years with me.

There are things which I have not done. I bought a new collar with his name sewn on it, but never got around to letting him wear it, because I've always thought there'll be a 'next time'. He didn't even get to wear that collar once.

It seems so cold when the pet cremation people came and slip him into a black bag and tied it up. It seems undignified to be carried away in a black bag, but I guess for dogs here there's not much of a choice. He'll be cremated within 24 hours, and we'll be collecting his ashes. I'll place it in a corner near the dining table. I guess there's the place he likes to hang out the most.

Life has to go on, I still have Helios to take care of. I guess it helps where there's another dog and you have routines to follow.

Thanks for friends who came to visit, and to see him for the last time. And my mum who came down and said prayers for him.

Bye Herbie. Be a good boy. I love you.

Bye Bye Herbie

Herbie left us, in the middle of the night. Thanks for everyone's well wishes and prayers. I'll say somemore once I've recollected my thoughts.



Bye, Herbie. I miss you already.