He Represents Love

Just pups!

March 5^th – Bullet’s birthday.  For those that don’t know, Bullet is our “bad boy” beagle and I can’t believe he turns 10 today.  We got him when he was just 6 weeks old. My husband brought him home for our son on his 9^th birthday….so the “two boys” kind of grew up together. There has been a lot happen and a lot of change in those 10 years.  The other boy is now a man.  And the beagle?  He has grown into a fat, arthritic, aged canine that may not be with us for much longer.

Today, I will take him to the vet for what I am sure we will find to be his heart.  I had another little Pomeranian/Japanese Chin that had the same problem and I recognize the symptoms.

 Beagle, as I sometimes call him, represents love.  Of course, I am speaking of our love for him and his unconditional love for us; but he also represents the love of a father for his son who took the most careful steps to bring the pup to our son on a special day.

Bullet hales from Texas, and when my husband was driving 48 states he brought him home to us via semi-truck.  Needless to say the beagle was quite spoiled even before he met the rest of the family.  We still laugh about the look on Matt’s face when he saw that little pup on the seat of the semi.  Matt completely surprised us by doing a 180 running back into the house, leaving his dad and I wondering what in the world he was doing or thinking.  Pretty soon, he came back with a nice, flat box with a soft blanket folded inside.  He knew the pup needed a bed.

We chose the breed because my husband was still driving truck, and we often went with him on his runs.  We needed a dog that would be small enough to travel with us comfortably.  We also wanted a dog that would not shed much. The Beagle was perfect.

I can still remember Matt and Bullet sitting on the couch of the truck sleeper together. Matt would be reading or studying and Bullet would stretch out, pushing and pushing with his back feet against Matthew in a battle of the wills.  Bullet would not stop until Matthew was off that couch.  Bullet almost always won. It reminded me of a fight between siblings, that loved each other very much, but when a quest for space became a little too much to handle.

There would be walks in the woods, which we fondly called “hunts” as it was time for the Beagle to put his nose to the ground, and do what he was bred to do.  How we loved his bay! There were birthday parties, when family and neighbors who had the same love of dogs and whom would understand would be invited. There would also be steps we had to take to "Bullet-proof" the house, and it became clear, this dog reigned. There would be cuddles, and corrections, comfort and consternation…all in the life of my two boys.

The Beagle represents love mostly in the fact that the 10 years we had him, were critical growing years for our son; the in-between years of childhood and becoming an adult. It seems all too quickly they were gone. In just a moment, those years were all gone.  Today, on his 10^th, Bullet represents those years.

I guess because Bubby (the other nickname of affection) needs a doctor, today, I am thinking even more about those in-between years. As he reaches his 10^th birthday - which is old for a Beagle anyway - I can’t help but think of all the years he has been a part of our family and all that we have gone through with the Beagle on the journey of our son becoming a man.

So I won’t say anymore…Bullet simply represents love.