Please allow me to tell you the story about the loss of our dog, Titan… through the eyes of my daughter.
~ OMB Contributor, Felicia
It was an early summer morning when I woke up to see grandma and grandpa in the kitchen. “Where’s mom and dad?”
“They had to take one of your dogs to the doctor,” they said.
Though I hoped he was OK, I was happy to see my grandparents and went about my morning, playing, getting dressed and eating breakfast. Before I left for school, my parents showed up looking tired, weary and sad. They told my sisters and I that Titan had unexpectedly gotten sick and that he was at the doctor, but he was getting better and they were going to get him later. Sounds good to me, so off I went to school with my grandparents.
At the end of the school day, I was surprised to see my grandparents yet again. “Where’s mom and dad?”, I wondered for the second time that day.
“They’re still at the doctor with Titan,” they said, and off we went to dinner and playing in the Chick-Fil-A play area – what a treat for a weeknight!
We didn’t go home until it was time for my sisters and me to take a bath and go to bed. When we arrived, mom and dad were there. They smiled through tears when they saw us. I asked where Titan was. They got really sad and then told us that they had to say goodbye to Titan that evening. I told my mom that it was good because that meant that now he was in heaven. She smiled again.
I went about my evening, excited that my grandparents were still there helping out, but noticing that my mom and dad were crying a lot. They told us they were sad, even though they tried to help us get ready for bed. When my mom laid down with me that night, I said, “Mom, I wish I had a chance to tell Titan goodbye.” She said that she wished I had, too, but no one knew he wasn’t going to come home that day. She said she and Daddy were with him when he went to heaven, and that Titan knew how much I loved him.
Months have passed, but I still think of him a lot, so I tell my mom and dad that I miss Ti-Ti, the nickname I gave him when I was little because I couldn’t say Titan. I miss Ti-Ti when we’re eating powdered sugar donuts, which were his favorite, or when we go swimming at my aunt’s pool, which he loved to do, too, or when we ask to pet another big dog that is just as fluffy and gentle as Titan was. And sometimes, I pass his picture in our house and I remind my mom that Titan’s probably resting on a big white cloud eating marshmallows.
Now I see puppies and I tell my mom that I can’t wait to get another dog and that I really hope it’s a puppy. She says someday we’ll get another dog, but not yet. So I tell her, it’s OK, we can wait and get another dog when we’re done being sad.
We only have one dog now, but I try to give her lots of attention. I pet her a lot more, and when we go on walks, I try to hold her leash. When we’re watching TV, I like to lay next to her so she doesn’t feel alone. She follows me around more often now, too. When I come home from school, she greets me at the door and when I throw the ball, she chases it and brings it back to me…even though it doesn’t go very far.
When I draw family pictures at school, I still draw Titan with us and when my teacher asks me how many dogs I have, I still say two…because I know he’s still watching over us every day.
