Beloved

Life has so many daily occurrences that when put together collect our own story.

Little pieces of moments, or maybe big ones shared with family , with friends or just by ourselves,all gathered together,that keep piling up day by day as long as we live .

But some of them stay imprinted in our soul, especially those moments lived that are harder to accept.

They give you strength and purpose but they also give you the assurance you need to experience for understanding that your life is worth living , because they make you value the good ones even more.

Mia is an important part of those special moments for myself , as she is part of my daughter and my son's life too, still today and hopefully for many years to come.

She came into our life as a Christmas present I gave to my children about ten years ago, a six week old furry little fluffy puppy that grew into a spectacular Golden Retriever.

Princess Amelia to be exact, that is her full name , our little Mia, Peanut, Bubby or any sweet name we feel to call her at any given moment because she just comes to us every time.

As I learned, dogs feel the emotion we put on our words, it doesn’t matter what nickname we choose to call them, they will know , and they will come to you.

Mia was not planned.

I have always had pets growing up , first when I was a child, then when I was a teenager and later on.

Dogs have always been in my life and I absolutely love the fact that I had the opportunity to be a dog mom for many of them.

A year after I got married I had my first born, my precious daughter and two years later my handsome boy.

Two beautiful kids that fill my life with so much love every day, and of course I wanted them to experience the meaning of having a puppy as a sibling, because for me dogs are like little children that we grow with, special beings that give you unconditional love and companionship and that are absolutely loyal and kind.

They are considered part of the family too, at least for us they are .

I tried to get a dog during that period but circumstances were difficult for us and things were getting hard at home.

Eventually the circumstances made me make an impossible decision with dire consequences; I needed to get a divorce.

Now a single mother to two kids, I was working a lot of hours and had very little free time and a dog needs a lot of attention .

And time went by.

I got married again, years later, but I sadly lost my husband very quickly when he had an unexpected massive heart attack.

I was left devastated and destroyed.

It took me great courage to recover from such an incredible and very unexpected loss.

I was sad all the time and couldn’t comprehend how or why that happened to me , but I had to move on , especially for my kids who were sixteen and fourteen at that moment.

I feel privileged to have the most amazing children a mother can have. Both my daughter and my son helped me so much to overcome my sadness and survive my grieving , and I am absolutely proud of them every single day.

I was browsing on the internet one morning when I found an ad about some golden retriever puppies for sale with cute pictures of all of them.

It was almost Christmas and those pictures were absolutely beautiful, so I called the number without thinking it through ,just out of curiosity.

I got an address from a kind lady and set an appointment to get there the next morning.

I felt like it was meant to be.

It turned out that it was a family that had both Golden Retrievers, mom and dad who had a litter of six puppies and they were advertising to later sell them.

It was easy to see all those six puppies came from a happy home and were loved and well taken care of.

As soon as I saw Mia I knew she was going to be ours.

She was the runt of the litter , very quiet and shy. I walked towards her and picked her up , she licked my nose and I fell in love instantly.

I cradled her like a baby and she fell asleep in my arms while I talked to the owners.

I already knew she was just the right puppy for us, I could feel it in my heart.

I had to beg the couple to let me take her home that same day as she had not yet received all her vaccinations, but after discussing my prior history with being a responsible dog owner and promising to take care of it myself, they made an exception and off I went with my tiny Mia.

I remember sitting in my car with her in my arms and feeling so happy and overjoyed again after all that pain I was still going through .

My kids are always there for me and getting Mia was another way of thanking them also, I knew she would be the perfect addition to our family.

I saw her again, her warmth made me feel like life had given me an extra reason to smile and I was certain she would be the perfect gift that Christmas for both my kids and also for me.

So I got a big red ribbon to tie on her collar , and went home feeling lucky to have found her.

As soon as I parked the car at home I could feel my heart beating faster filled with joy and so much love.

I couldn’t wait to get inside with my little surprise for them.

I saw Mia in my arms again and her little eyes met mine, I smiled again, it was the beginning of a beautiful adventure.

I will treasure that particular moment forever.

Getting out of the car with little Mia in my arms, then inside our house and approaching my kids just enhanced that special episode of our life.

As soon as I entered they saw me and I will never forget their smiles.

They got her and hugged her ,and kissed her and their faces lit up with happiness.

I am thankful for each and every single day I have lived with them and Mia and the many ,many more I am sure we will have , they give me hope and fill my heart with gratitude .

During the first four months of Mia living with the three of us, the biting and the full energy was sometimes exhausting and overly hard, especially when she was losing her baby teeth and went around chewing everything available at her reach like a funny little piranha monster, seeking a way to calm the itch on her little gums.

But after the biting phase, that we managed to survive with special puppy bones and a lot of patience was over , training her showed itself to be easy, very easy indeed I have to say.

She actually does it herself almost every time, and it is astonishing to observe her indubitable intelligence, how quick she picks up and learns commands; it amazes me, still today.

I once got her a pretty little rope with rattle bells attached to it.

I got that because I thought it was a cute little thing to hang on the sliding door of our backyard,I mean , I was hoping to train her to alert us when she wanted to go outside but I never got the chance.

When she first noticed it hanging off the door handle she went and poked it with her nose to explore

I smiled and slid the door open ,and that was all it took.

From this single interaction she understood it was her cue to be let outside. Sometimes it seemed she was training us, not the other way around.

I also remember vividly how she used to literally destroy all the toys we gave her, to the point that we timed her to see how long that particular toy would last, in a display of bites, tears and little growls and pieces of cloth, plastic and cotton stuffing flying all over the place, until she ended up with a collection of incomplete pieces of toys, earless teddy bears,and other maimed stuffed animals, munched plastic bones and hundreds of balls of all sizes and kinds.

As years went by she calmed down little by little and her destructive instincts died down. I’m glad to report she is now capable of keeping a dog toy completely intact for longer than a couple days.

It’s funny how something that loves to tear things apart can help keep you together. We love you so much Mia.

But toys keep coming as she is the Princess of our house and it is impossible for us to resist getting her little presents every time we see one at the store.

She even has a special basket where we keep them. Well , at least we try to keep them in there because she absolutely loves to take them all out and just display them around the living room, one by one in a kind of a ceremonial performance that makes us laugh every time.

She has so many funny behaviors I have to say, like receiving us at the door every time we get back home with a “present” that is usually one of her toys, and she offers it to us with a wiggly tail and all the love contained in the purest of a furry bundle of joy that she is, making us so happy and grateful to have her .

Also her way of sitting on her tail and kind of waving with her paw with soft little howling sounds that feel like her way of “talking “to us, especially when she wants attention or a well deserved treat, and how can I not mention the cute little smiles she makes showing us her front teeth when she is excited.

Memories keep piling up throughout our lives of all the moments spent with Mia .

And it is well known that most of our pets leave a profound mark in our life during their brief lifetime with us.

I feel proud to say that I have so many of those memories imprinted in my mind.

Each one of them will have a special place in my heart and will be with me forever.

But this chapter I am writing now is solely dedicated to our Mia, because she is absolutely the best.