JASPA

Her name means bearer of treasure or a precious stone. It suits her immensely; no other name could make her character and personality flourish. Jaspa it is. Sweet, erratic, and what I believe to be most important about her is her protection for me like a mother’s strength and shielding towards her child except intensified by a female dogs’ senses.

From the first moment our eyes met she made an unconscious promise to protect me. She knew it was her duty as a dog to care, comfort, and shield me from the worries and hideous happenings of the world.

She barked when people approached my pram, growled when people stopped to talk, and stood her ground if I or my parents felt uncomfortable. She is everything a girl could ask for as a protector.

And a protector she was.

She always had a botanic scent to her fur mixed with wet dog, which sent my heart swelling with the familiar and comforting warmth her strength and passion gave to my confidence as a young child.

Familiarity was her essence and her heart - larger than the world. She was perfect. The perfect dog. The perfect everything.

Every day, she was by my side. When we went for a walk, to the park, or just lazing around at home. She was always there. My protector.

As a young girl between the age of zero to six, I will admit I neglected her protection. Probably too much in my own bubble of creativity and imagination to think solely on her for five minutes. Of course, I have to be lenient to myself I was a child, right?

Grateful I will always be for her safety, security, and protection. No matter what happened in my life she was always there to lean on. I could talk to her non-stop about anything that was on my mind.

Now to me, that is a girl’s best friend. A dog who you can always count on. And I could count on her, forever and ever.

I shared wonderful memories with her, ones that make me smile and laugh and, of course, ones that end with streams of tears.

I could place crowns on her head, and she would stand still and pose for the camera. She never moved, just stayed and posed. The perfect dog she was.

Many memories are vague, but some are so vividly etched into my brain as if they happened yesterday. Sometimes, I suppose, I would love them to have been yesterday. Nevertheless, memories are memories and they will always be carried with us through life no matter what happens, either good or bad.

Like any life or story, it must end. And this is what happened to my perfect dog, my protector, my Jaspa.

I’ll be honest, a few tears were shed writing this. It’s hard remembering a blissful time shared with our furry friends when we no longer have them with us.

When my dearly beloved Jaspa died, I was a young girl maybe six or seven but her protection and love has been with me until this day and will never leave my side because I know she is always there in spirit, in my memories, and watching me like always as my protector.

On a leaving note, I would prefer to have happy tears than melancholic ones, I will say that no matter if our beloved dogs are with us physically or not, they will always be with us in spirit.

As screenwriter Jack Thorne wrote, “Those we love never truly leave us. There are things that death cannot touch.”