The Watchful Guardian

Before I was even old enough to process the concept of death my grandpa had passed. He was an important figure in my somewhat large family whom everybody loved and cherished to the highest degree. He was responsible for raising 7 children in the terrible conditions of Haiti and putting them all through school to the best of his ability. His passing deeply affected everybody but my mother in particular was hit the heaviest. While I had no recollection of her behavior towards this prior to getting our little companion, I definitely felt the energy in the house shift after we got our first pet. However, this wouldn't be until many years later.

Reincarnation was always a topic that peaked my interest more often than not as many different religions believe it to be the next step after death. Growing up catholic under my mother directed my faith in the existence of heaven and hell but nonetheless it still intrigued me. I was curious if a person's spirit could manifest into something other than a human. Little to my knowledge, my question would soon be challenged on one faithful day in the summer of 2015.

My sister and I were ecstatic, my mother had agreed to take us to the mall for back to school shopping without any other intentions. Or so we had believed. My father always opposed the idea of having a pet as he insisted it would be "too high maintenance" and wasn't thrilled at having to take care a "third" child. So with that mindset considered, we thought it would be impossible to convince him otherwise. After about 3 hours or so of walking from store to store looking for clothes and supplies we began preparing to leave. Until this fateful encounter that halted our plans. As my sister walked by the displays at the pet store a small black yorkie started jumping and scratching at the glass. I saw firsthand how her eyes lit up and her enthusiasm explode out of nowhere despite her being quite tame and low-energy earlier. She ran to the glass and started grinning ear to ear, her mouth stretching far beyond what was thought humanly possible. Once my parents saw how excited she was I followed suit immediately to ensure we got their full attention.

It was a 10-month old puppy and the oldest of a litter of 4 siblings. We pressured our parents to let us look around the store even more as we wanted to see what other options they had available. But we all knew who would be chosen as that yorkie had made a strong first impression. After browsing the catalogue for around 30 minutes we found ourselves going back to the same dog. The black yorkie puppy whose energy could topple buildings and revive the fallen. My mother was considering getting it for us then and there but my father was not too onboard with the suggestion. Until the employee mentioned its birthday, August 15th. My mother's jaw dropped ever so slightly in disbelief as that was the same birthday as my late grandpa. So with that revelation set in mind, she made the decision to buy the puppy who we later named, Rylie.

About 2 months had passed as we got accustomed to living with a pet in the household and donning more responsibility that my sister nor I could ever begin to be prepared for. Potty training and chewing were big hills to climb over with Rylie as getting her to go outside and stopping her from mauling up the carpet was absurdly difficult. But nonetheless, we all loved her and cherished her company as her presence always seemed to lighten the mood, just like a certain someone.

Before we knew it we were celebrating her first birthday, and even though she hadn't been living with us for a year it sure felt like it with the trouble she caused us. We had bought her a bone and a new collar the day before and were excited to have her first year of life feel special. But the night before my mom had decided to have a family prayer and called upon the guidance of our late family, including my grandpa whom she spent a while talking to about our progress in life. I didn't think much of it as I was still very young and was ready to go to sleep so I rushed to bed as soon as we finished. Of course Rylie ran right after me and jumped into bed with me so I had a source of security and comfort that night.

The following morning Rylie was scratching and clawing at my parents door which insinuated my dad to open it where she ran over to my parents dresser and sat next to it. I woke up shortly after and noticed that she hadn't moved from that spot while my parents still slept. I assumed she was just waiting to be fed or played with as like my dad previously stated, puppies are very needy and high maintenance. But that wasn't the case in this scenario s0 I tried calling her over with a treat and even that didn't work. That's when I was caught off guard because treats are her weakness and with her being so young she couldn't have possibly learned to resist them. Her attention was drawn to my parents' dresser where several pictures of my family were placed side by side.

My curiosity peaked and I decided to shift around the pictures to provoke a reaction out of her. However, it wasn't until I lifted a picture of my grandpa when he was young that initiated her to bark unexpectedly and run out of the room. Coincidence perhaps? Or is there an underlying meaning behind her actions that I could've glossed over at that age? People believe that dogs have the ability to sense spirits so I just associated that to her response of me lifting the picture. But could it have been possible that Rylie is just grandpa reborn? Even after all these years, something like reincarnation should be instantaneous and not occur such a long time after one's passing. But life is mysterious and nobody really has the answers to the reality after death.

The following years we never caught sight of Rylie showing any signs indicating the rebirth of our grandpa, even on her birthdays. So perhaps I could be over exaggerating this occurrence as something more than just a simple coincidence, or maybe my lingering youthful intriguement could be overtaking my sense of reason. Whatever the case may be, Rylie has always been a loyal and reliable companion of mine for a long time that always cheers me up during dark times. And while I personally have never met my grandpa, I feel as if this is the universe's way of introducing him to me through the existence of this animal.

My Watchful Guardian