A Farewell

They kick at you when you’re down, you know?

I’m simply heartbroken today for my daddy. His beloved Jodi passed last night.

Jodi was a lhasa apso – we lovingly called her the “dust mop” – but there was no doubt she was my dad’s baby. She’d already endured a great deal; several years ago she had run off and ended up struck by a car. A kind soul had taken her to a vet for treatment, and it took days for my father to find her. She lost an eye in that incident.

As she aged, she was a crotchety little thing. My father could do no harm, but the rest of us were clearly encroaching on her territory. Heaven help you if you inadvertently snuck up on her blind side.

And there were ear drops, and eye drops, and special foods. She was pampered, and loved, and treated as well as any dog I’d ever met, and far better than most.

Jo turned 14 early this month. She had a long, well loved life.

But there is little that will break a girl’s heart like hearing her daddy cry.