Remembering Buddy

 I stumbled across an old prayer:  “Lord, help me to be the man my dog thinks I am.” Anyone who has a dog will understand that prayer.  It took almost a year for me to convince my wife I should have a dog.  We had dogs when we were raising the kids, but they weren’t my dog.  They belonged to the kids and the family.  After the kids grew up, I decided I wanted my own dog, and she finally gave in, as long as I promised to take care of him. She grew to love him as much as I did and made sure he was cared for.

 My dog’s name was Buddy, a tri-color corgi who was with me most of his life.  We adopted him 16 years ago from Corgi rescue.  He had been picked up off the streets, skinny, sick and lost.  We bonded.  He wanted to be wherever I was and go wherever I went.  I usually get up about 6:30 in the morning, brew a cup of coffee and go outside on our deck to watch the sunrise, meditate and pray.  Buddy went with me. He sat nearby, sniffed the air and thought his “dog” thoughts.

 After breakfast Buddy went to my study, found his spot under my desk, and started the day’s work, napping while I wrote.  If I went downstairs to watch a ball game, Buddy stood at the top of the stairs and waited to be invited.  If I didn’t invite him, he eventually came anyway. 

 We used to go on long walks every day, usually two miles.  We had several routes which he marked on trees, fire hydrants and bushes. He always checked for “pee-mail” left by other dogs. In his later years Buddy developed arthritis in his right front leg.  Walks of a half mile or more left him limping.  Sometimes he was unable to put weight on the leg for a day or more. So, we stopped taking walks other than poop and pee walks.  The vet continued to say he was a “healthy geriatric.”  My grandchildren calculated his age in “dog years” and informed me that he is 90 years old.

 Buddy apparently thought a lot of me, even when I didn’t think much of myself. When I returned from a trip, he was beside himself. He whimpered, danced and barked like a puppy, overjoyed to see me.  When I was in a foul mood, he wasn’t.  He just waited for me to feel better.  Once, when I was overcome with grief, he jumped into my lap to comfort me.

 Across the years Buddy taught me many lessons:  patience, forgiveness, trust, acceptance.  Finally, he taught me how to grow old. Buddy never complained, had no regrets and woke up happy to greet the morning. Unfortunately, a Corgi’s life expectancy is 12 to 13 years.  Buddy made it to 14.  We had to “let him go” in January of 2022. 

 Now that I am growing old in human years, thoughts of Buddy remind me of God’s promise.  “Listen to me … you whom I have upheld since your birth, and have carried since you were born.  Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you.  I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and rescue you” (Isaiah 46:3-5).   “Bless the Lord O my soul … who satisfies your years with good things so that your youth is renewed as the eagle.” 

Bill Tinsley's chilcren's book, Buddy the Floppy Ear Corgi, is FREE on Amazon September 13-17 as an eBook.