Bea U tiful Bridgit

A piece of my heart is gone.

My one true friend was waiting for me at only seven weeks old, in a local shop. She was a tiny, goofy looking runt. I can’t recall if I had planned on picking out a new friend that day or not. But after we saw one another, that was it, she was coming home(and everywhere in between) to be my confidant, my bestie, my dream buddy. Despite her petite size, she had every perfection that a pug is supposed to have. Her eyes were perfectly set, and always on me. Her tail had a double curl that always shook furiously when I talked to her, danced around, sang to her, or even made eye contact. She was exactly everything that I didn’t know that I wanted. First thing I did with this new princess was show her off, naturally. She was the perfect size to put into a carry purse, and tote her along wherever I so inclined to go.

The first place that we ventured to was to see my mother, who was somewhat skeptical at first, but fell in love with her instantly as I did. That was the thing-B must have had some magical dander in her fur that made everyone she met, fall in love with her. From the first night, she slept in my bed with me. I had a rather large bed so I thought that we’d never even touch all night, but that was not necessarily the case. Bridgit, from the beginning, could not stand to be away from me. While falling asleep initially, she would lay in the crook of my neck directly under my chin. It was not the most comfortable, but she was light. From that very night, I desired to hear her breathing. As you might know, Pugs are very loud breathers. B was no different. But that sound became my meditation, my peace. It calmed me. Every night, to no fail, she would push herself up against my back whilst I slept on my side. On occasion I’d wake immediately after hearing her yip, because I was starting to squish her. She’d yip, I’d wake up, and she’d run back up to my neck. My precious angel.

When I got her, she had a congenital disease that was undisclosed to us. I talked to the local shop and they said that they would take her back and “take care of it”. Say what?! There was no way I’d let this precious angel go. So we did as recommended and put her through surgery at six months of age. She did splendidly and was given a purple cast. This cast, however, was longer than her three other legs. But it in no way slowed her down. She would hobble around just as playfully as she would with four good legs. Going “potty” was a different issue. Because of the cast being awkwardly longer, she tended to stick it straight out behind her, still managing to squat. I don’t know how she could have been any more adorable but leave it to B, she was.

Weeks passed. I spent every cent that I had on her. I bought her pretty toys, leashes, carrying bags, you name it, I shelled out the cash. Nothing was too good for my princess. And she was smart! I had no idea how smart this little runt would turn out to be. She loved all of her toys, but she knew the difference between babies, and toys. You see, babies were usually plush and delicate. Where as “toys” were just that-tug of war, rip apart, mutilation of intense proportions, etc. Whenever I came home to her, she had to have a baby in her mouth to give to me. If I asked for her to get her baby, she knew which plush toy or toys to pick up and bring to me. She was nice to her babies.. She was a typical dog with her toys.

Bridgit loved her baths. It was probably because I sang to her. But then again, I was always singing to her. When I was feeling silly, which happened a lot, I would dance with her. I would jump around and sing and shout and she would jump around with me. She always got so excited when she saw that I was happy.

Bridgit loved to lay in the sunshine. Even if she wasn’t near a window, she would go directly to the spot on the floor(depending on time of day) where the sun beamed in, and lay there until it moved. Then she’d move with it. Silly little girl.

B had to be with me at all times. Which even meant that from the time I got her, I would never go to the bathroom for any reason alone again. She’d sit right outside the tub and just listen to me sing in the shower. When I got out, my wet hair would drip on her and she would try to catch the water droplets in her mouth. This was another daily game. Often in the bathroom, if she wasn’t sitting by the tub, she was laying on my pile of discarded clothes. Cute pup just loved my clothes!

Bridgit went everywhere that I went. Which included going to Maryland where I settled down after marrying a nice man. However, B still knew she was MY dog. This man seemed nice, but she never took to him. And Bridgit took to everyone. In MD, she also had to contend with a not so delightful cat that belonged to the man. No matter how mean and cranky said cat was, B always kept her spunky(and spoiled) little attitude. The man was working almost all hours of the day, and I was not. I was the furthest away from any friends and family that I had ever known. It was scary, and it was extremely lonely. But I had Bridgit. My B was home to me. She was the home that I could take everywhere with me. Being homesick, I could talk to her about it. She knew, because she missed old home too. She kept me company when the man was gone, when the man was home, and when fighting with the man. She didn’t like that so much. If I raised my voice(in a non delightful way) she would come straight to me, or sit on me depending. She and I went on many adventures in MD, just the two of us. She even went on a full day hike with me and a friend that came to visit. We all got lost! It was dark making the trail difficult to see. But my Bridgit was fearless. Although I carried her after a few hours. I was more worried about her than I was about myself. Well, Bridgit was the only witness to the rise and painful fall of this relationship with man. She caught my multitudes of endless tears. Only she heard every hurtful thing that was said. Only she had a hug and a smile waiting at every glance.

Right before being scooped up and taken back to reality and family, I thought B could use a pal. But what I most wanted was for another puppy to come into our lives, that she could “rub off on”. I thought that this new dog would adapt his personality to hers. Dead wrong. Elliot had his own quirky personality, and B LOVED it! B was so very excited to be a big sister. More than anything, she loved tormenting him. She would be so delighted in getting him into trouble. And boy did he get into trouble. You see Bridgit was already five years old when Ellie came into our lives, she was well behaved. El was just a pup. He chewed on everything, he got into the trash, he was the epitamy of destruction. And B just sat back and watched it all go down. They would occasionally play together, but the only snuggling was when in mommies lap. They both wanted to be near me. Bridgit had domain over my lap of course, and Ellie sat up by my shoulders. With his first few months with us being with a cat also, he thought he was one. Bridgit and El were great buddies.

The three of us decided to leave all that we knew of pain, sorrow, loneliness, and destruction behind. We had a brand new start back home.

Enter, sweetheart. Bridgit took to sweetheart as quickly as sweetheart took to her. He treated B’s mom exactly how B thought she should be treated. It didn’t hurt that sweetheart gave Bridgit lots of love and attention. Sweetheart was different than anyone who had come into our previous lives. He was kind and caring. From the beginning Sweetheart was warned about how very important Bridgit was to me. Knowing that, he still presented me with a ring, and we were going to be a family. We decided to grow our family (of puppies) and bought a Bugg that we named Chloe. She became Bridgits best cuddle bud. Bridge and El were overjoyed about having a young pup to play with. Bridgit and Chloe developed a strong sisterly bond. Chlo was wild and foolish and B loved her all the same, however opposite they may have been. Bridgit never seemed to mind the two other dogs at all. It was just more buddies to love, and to love her in return.

Even though we had two other dogs, Bridgit knew she would always be my favorite. She was the one of them that still had to be near me. There were times that I had to be away from Bridgit, but she knew that I would always always always be back for her. And I always was. Returning to her was incredible every single time. It didn’t matter if I was gone for two weeks, or for ten minutes. She was so full of bouncy, exhuberent joy as soon as she spotted me. I have never felt so important to anyone in my life as I did to her. She made me feel important.

Bridgit aged as gracefully as you’d expect a princess to age. However the initial surgery that she had for her leg was reversing by age 8. She began to hobble again. But she hobbled like nobody’s business. If she wanted to go somewhere, she’d go. Around age 10, we invested in a small set of stairs for her to be able to remain seated with us on the couch. We found that the other two dogs liked using the stairs too. Age 14 came around a little more harshly than earlier years. She began to lose her hearing and eye sight in one eye. Her leg started to give her significant problems. She would often lose footing and fall. But did these minor setbacks make her any less adored and lovable? Not in the least. She had a wise charm about her, even if her body was failing.

Bridgit was an emphatic camper for her entire life. She was truly up for anything. For a very last adventure we took Bridgit, by herself, out west on our vacation. She was very old, and I could not leave her behind. I wanted her to get a trip where she was the princess again. She was the only puppy there to shower with attention that she alone could revel in. I took at least one photo every single day of this trip with her. She was always the most photogenic dog. When we were outside of the camper on this vacation, she came alive. She would bark at every single dog that went by. She would mysteriously see them before any of us did. She may have only had one working eye at this point, but it was spot on! We took such good care of this spoiled little girl on HER vacation.

The day that my sweet little girl left me was one of the most difficult days of my life. But I’ll always remember it. Not knowing that she was about to leave me, I danced for her. Even though she couldn’t join me. I brought her to the door and held her in the sunlight for the last time. My angel fell asleep in the bathroom with me, laying on a pile of my clothes. It was exactly where she wanted to be. I knew her sweet little heart could no longer handle what her body was failing to do. I miss her every single day, I always will. My heart is no longer whole. She filled such a huge space in our lives. And now all is changed. But I would do every single bit of it all over again. She was my world, and I was hers.

There are more details, but I’d prefer to remember the happy.