Hey all! I just wanted to properly apologize to all for the lack of articles this week.
As I am trying to get all my ducks in a row, working on more Unfiltered related articles, catching up on reality shows and making mental notes on specific topics I want to discuss, as well as running my main magazine and coordinating interviews, which will be a plus feature since I remain keeping up with today’s many changes on how we view things today.
With that being said, I wanted to share something personal, and as to why I needed a break this last week.
For the last several months, I have been watching my dog Lady, slow down. She turned 17 years old in August and I had a feeling in my heart, this would be the last birthday, in addition, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s.
By the time this month rolled around, her behavior and eating habits changed almost drastically. And this week, I had to make the heart wrenching decision to put her down.
By the time I had gotten to the vet on Tuesday, January 19th, they had informed me she was expiring and they put her down to end any suffering she may have been in experiencing in those last moments.
*Deep breath*
My baby is gone to doggie heaven, hopefully reunited with her daughter Tessa, from her second litter, who died at the tender age of seven from cancer.
I have always been an animal person. I think years ago, when I decided I wasn’t cut out to be a mother to another human, I lived with plenty of cats. Of course, this garnered being made fun of, “if you wanted a real relationship, you have to get rid of your cats.” That’s not the cloth I’m cut out from. A commitment is a commitment. Period. The End.
At that time in my life, I dated, a lot...but every guy I met wasn't ready to make a real commitment and honestly, thinking back then, neither was I. When it came to guys who were pretty much forward they were only interested in getting their rocks off, I respectfully declined sharing that part of myself with strangers. I wasn't in a place where I wanted to share my body to get off and that's it. So, because of that, I continued to date and have as much fun as I wanted to getting to know new people in a mostly nonphysical level.
And when I came home, my cats were my solace. They relaxed my mind, and gave me peace.
I pretty much was stood my ground, my homelife was way more important than having a relationship where I wasn’t willing to meet compromises such as getting rid of my cats.
When Lady came into my life, she came in to my cat world. For a while I wanted a dog, searching around for sites where I can adopt rather than spend thousands of dollars on a breeder, even if adopting require a donation to help another animal. When my friend, who had Lady for two years, called me and said, she didn’t want her anymore, it didn’t take any time for me to go and get her.
For two years Lady went by Nala.
To me she looked like a Lady and she answered to that name immediately.
She was my companion from the beginning. I took her everywhere with me and all those who encountered her presence, whether for a short time or years, they all loved her as much as I did.
Lady had an essence where people became enamored with her. And as usual Lady fashion, she ate it all up. She loved being petted and around people.
It’s taking everything in me not to break down as I write this.
The times I would talk to her (you know those conversations you have with your animals), I would tell her, “one day we gonna get out of the Bronx and we are going to move out West, to a big house with a big yard and you can go outside anytime you want.”
I did exactly that.
First we took a vacation trip out West in 2009, we went to Oregon, Canon Beach, California and Vegas. And when I left NYC in 2016, we drove over three thousand miles to Arizona, where we huddled in a temporary apartment until we purchased this house.
When my parents finally moved out here, Lady was reunited with her daughter Princess and her granddaughter Maxie.
Before we left NYC, Lady had two litters. The first one Sebastian and a stillborn female puppy and then months later (by accident) as my neighbor and I were engaged in a conversation, probably about reality TV LOL, as her dog played with Sebastian, we thought Sebastian got hurt, and as we were checking him, my butt opened my front apartment door, where Lady snuck out and by the time, we lifted our heads, Lady and her dog was stuck together.
Fifty-seven days later, Lady gave birth to four puppies one of them being Tessa and Princess (and my sister has one too), the only boy puppy living with a family upstate NYC.
I’ll do a family tree at some point of all the puppies in this group, but Lady leaves such a legacy behind. Everyone who owns her litter and grand puppies all own a piece of Lady.
She went by so many names, momma munchkin, momma trooper, the munchkin girl, brownie girl (for the song brown eyed girl). She was smart and intuitive. She truly loved unconditionally.
There aren’t any words I can find or think of to express how much I miss her, how much it meant to me to make a commitment to her when my friend could not, because she knew I would love her.
She was a part of my life for fifteen years out of her 17 years of life.
My heart is broken.
Her lack of presence here has changed the dynamic of this home. Sebastian and her granddaughter Una, still look for her every morning she’s been gone.
Even though I am grieving the work must go on.
I just wanted to let all of y’all know I didn’t forget you. I just needed some time to grieve.
Until then. Take care of you.
