Best Reunion Of My Life

I  had a hard time picking one minute with one pet. I am an animal lover and I have almost always had a pet. At 50 that adds up to a lot of really great moments. After thinking about it for a couple days I think I have picked one as maybe the most meaningful moment with any of my pets.

Before I get to the specific moment let me tell you a little about myself and the dog. My parents divorced when I was about 5. I was the youngest of 4 siblings. My siblings were my whole world. My parents were just both very occupied with their marrieage coming to an end. So it was my siblings that taught me how to read, tie my shoes and ride a bike. After the divorce I was the only one my mom got legal custody of. She wasn't really any more interested in me after the divorce than she was before. So life with her was very lonely for me. To say I missed my sister and brothers doesn't begin to explain the reality of my situation.

The day after the divorce was final my mom remarried. My step-father turned out to be a very nice man who did his best to make my life with them fun. On my eighth birthday he got me a puppy. She was a little brown and white terrier. She was my only real friend. She went everywhere I went, she slept with me and generally she made me feel much much better about life in general.

She was very protective of me. We lived for a time near a shooting range where they did clay pigeons. I would go and pick up the ones that didn't get hit and didn't break. I was collecting them and the regulars at the club knew me and had no problem with me and my little dog coming around and collecting them from the field. Usually my little dog Mitze was not on a leash we lived outside of town and she and I very rarely ran into people or animals. But when I went there I would put her on a leash because there would be a lot of guys and I was afraid she would try to chase the pigeons and get shot by mistake. Please understand that 50 year old me understands that an eight year old girl should not be hanging out at a place where there are a bunch of grown men, all I can say is it was the 1980.

Mitze liked everyone and the guys out there liked her. One day we went and there was a new guy. She immediately didn't like him. I trusted her judgement completely so I immediately didn't like him. I tried to just talk to the guys I knew and see if I could walk the field that day. But this buy was not content to leave me alone. He kept making comments that I don't remember but I remember they were inappropriate. Mitze was on the end of the leash going for him every time he came near me. He made a comment about her and that was it I had had enough. Eight year old me was a bit of a hot head and didn't have sense enough to be intimidated by anything or any one. So I told him if he didn't stop talking to me I was going to let my dog off the leash and he wouldn't enjoy it much. He was indignant but all the guys I knew were amused and told him in no uncertain terms the little girl and her dog were welcome and he was on thin ice.

During the two years I lived with them and had Mitze I went to three schools and lived in three houses in two states. She was truly my only friend and the only confidante I had. When I was 10 things with my mom finally came to a head. The short story is we had a huge fight in an airport and it ended with the words "fine go live with your dad, I never wanted you anyway." And out of spite she kept my dog.

Here comes the best moment I had with that wonderful little dog. By the time I was 14 I was sufficiently over the argument to go visit. I honestly was there to see my step-dad and my little brother, and of course Mitze. I was worried that she wouldn't remember me. After all she had spent two thirds of her life without me.

I had to fly from South Dakota to Florida. It was a really long travel day and by the time we got to their house, which I had never been to it was about midnight. My step-dad said. "Sugar I'm going to unlock the door and let you go in alone, let's see what Mitze does." My mom thought that was a terrible idea. Apparently she had gotten quite territorial and they often locked her up when people came over. But I didn't know that and my step-dad said it would be ok.

So in the middle of the night I walked in to a strange house and a little ball of furry came out of the other room. I knelt down and put my hand out to her. She took a good sniff and jumped into my arms. She stayed in my lap for about ten minutes weeping is the only word I have for what she did. I may have done some weeping myself. All these years later, with two very good boys close by (I don't think I will tell them they aren't the subject of this story) I may have tears in my eyes all over again.