Zoey

2012 - 2025

I remember the day Zoey came home.
I was so jealous because I had begged my mom for a dog, and no one told me while I was working the 4H booth at the county fair that my mom had allowed my sister to sneak off and grab a puppy out of a wagon a man had been wheeling around the grounds. I didn't know that she would be mine and we would go through so much together in 13 years.
Zoey was an awful puppy. She was so hyper, a horrible chewer, and an escape artist. She was crazy and chaotic and always kept us on our toes. She had a sense of humor in her own way.
I remember when she disappeared for three days after clearing the tall fence in the backyard. Mom found her snacking on roadkill a couple days later -- poor girl laid around for days with a tummy ache after she came home.
Grandpa's favorite story to bring up was when I graduated 8th grade. We left the chocolate sheet cake my aunt made on the counter (despite me warning my dad not to btw). While we were gone she ate HALF of that cake. Didn't effect her at all. She really had an iron stomach. I wasn't even the least bit mad. That was just Zoey.
When I was going through so many things silently and told no-one, Zoey was there. She was there to comfort me when I attempted suicide. She was there to comfort me when my childhood home burned to the ground. She was there each time I graduated, when I bought my first car, when I dropped out of college, when I moved in with the love of my life. There was rarely a time when she wasn't attached right at my hip.
There's something really special about your childhood dog. Zoey was my best and sometimes only friend, my sister, my daughter in a way. Some people don't understand the attachment to animals but there are many times I Zoey kept me here on earth. Today it's her turn to go, and she's leaving me behind. I honestly don't know how I'm going to navigate life without my best friend but I know it will be okay, and I'm glad she won't be hurting anymore. I am going to think about her every time I pass a lake. Every time I leave the house and she no longer says good bye. Every time I'm in the garden and she's howling at me from the window. I know many of you think of her fondly too.