Greta

I remember the last time I saw my best friend. She was curled up on the floor, laying in her doggy bed, subdued from her illness. I had trouble processing a lot of what was going on as I laid down with her. She had been in our family for years at this point and her sickness came on quicker than I had realized while I was away at college. Tons of memories would flood back, knowing I didn’t have a lot of time left with her.

Fortunately, I could only really remember good memories. Greta was a rather calm dog. She would get excited, certainly, but as she got older, she mellowed out quite a bit. It was a great fit for me. She was ferociously protective, having stood between my brother and myself when she felt there was danger on numerous occasions. She always seemed to know when I was down, curling up next to me when I needed it most.

Most of all, she was loyal. The term “man’s best friend” comes to mind and she certainly had become my best friend over the years. I wish I had taken her for more walks and really spent more time with her as I got older, but I still cherish the memories I have.

Honestly, my favorite memory of her is a mishmash of several. It’s hard to pick just one. I remember her playing with my brother and I. One night, my stepfather wanted to play a joke on us, putting on a mask to scare us late at night. Greta spotted him first, framing herself in my doorway and growling fiercely. It was almost scary, imagining being on the other side of it. That was something I had never heard from her before, but it came out to protect her family from what she saw as a threat.

There were times I took her for walks and she would get excited at seeing some of the very little wildlife we had around our neighborhood. She once pulled away from me when I was very young, bounding after a small fox that had poked its head out of a bush. It was one of the scarier moments for me, but she inevitably ran back to me, nuzzling herself against me.

My favorites come from small moments, though. There weren’t big events that came to mind for me. Times when I broke up with a girlfriend and I was feeling down on myself. As if she knew I was upset, she would nuzzle herself against me, just like when she pulled away that one time. When I was stressed in college, taking summer and winter courses during my breaks, she was always there, laying her head on my lap or curling up beside me while I worked on my assignments.

It wasn’t just with me, either. Greta was a very loving dog. When our second dog, George, was sick, she would stay by him often. When other family members were upset, she gravitated towards them. She didn’t try to play or bound about, but would just sit there quietly, cuddled beside us.

The most apparent trait about Greta was her loyalty and the care she had for her family. The way she would comfort us was something I didn’t really think animals would do at the time. You always hear about pets having this kind of sixth sense for that sort of thing, but I had never seen it in person until I met her. We brought her home from a shelter and, from then on, she was another member of the family. I loved her and still miss her, even as I’m writing this nearly a decade after her passing.

The memories that always flood my mind are ones of calmness and loyalty and love. That’s how she was with our family and, in my mind, she’ll always be part of that family.