Man's best friend

Are dogs truly man’s best friend? Well, if you want unconditional love, someone who will ALWAYS greet you when you walk in the door, someone who will defend you, someone who will ALWAYS be by your side, whether you are right or wrong, sick or healthy, happy or sad, etc., then yes, dog’s are man’s best friend because no offense to most human beings but all those qualities are rare in one person. Let’s face it; we humans all have “bad hair days”. And the people who suffer from our sour moods are the people who are closest to us – spouses, kids, parents, best friends and so on. But dogs, don’t take it personally, they love you no matter what.

When you find someone who comes close to having the dedication to a friendship that a dog would have for its master, well that’s an awesome find. Are there really people out there like that? Yes there are, and when you find someone like that treasure their friendship because you never know when they may leave this earth.

I am a stay at home mom with kids that are in school most of the day, leaving me with my two wonderful pups to hang out with. They really are my best friends because of the qualities that I mentioned above but……as much as I love my dogs and would miss them terribly if something were to happen to them they really can’t replace the loss of a human best friend.

I have struggled for almost 2 years with the loss of my best friend, Erica. She had metastasic melanoma. She was diagnosed at 33 and passed away at 35. We had a16 year friendship that encompassed many of the characteristics that I described earlier. I can remember a time when she told off some jerk that I was seeing. She grabbed my arm and said “You can’t speak to my Michelle that way!” and led me away. There was another time when I almost fought with someone who was insulting her (and I am not a violent person). For many years of our friendship we did not live in the same city and so we would write letters and send cards to each other (a lot of our friendship was pre – email so not only were they hand written but also sent via snail mail on real paper!). When things were going well, she was the one I called, when things were going not so well, she was the one I called, when my life was swirling in a downward spiral, guess who I called? And I was the recipient of many of her good news/ bad news calls. I do remember a few disagreements as well – no friendship is perfect but we always managed to work it though and our friendship was always better afterward.

As many friends grow up the possibility of them growing apart can occur. Erica and I did change in many ways. We began our friendship as young women, going out, having fun, flirting with guys, listening to loud music and spending way too much time on our hair and make-up. We grew into women who did go in different directions. I went into teaching and had a 4 year degree; she went into a few different directions and tried a few different schools until she found a career she loved in the pharmacy world. I had a child and she had hoped for children. I started going to church on a regular basis and she wasn’t sure she was ready for a “religious” experience. But despite our differences, we had a deep friendship that we both cherished.

I will forever be thankful for the time I had with MY BEST FRIEND, and will miss her until I see her once again in Heaven.