One sunny day when I was a child my mom said we were going for a car ride after about twenty minutes of driving I could not wait any longer I began nagging her asking her where we were going. We pulled into a strange driveway and she handed me a plastic shopping bag. I immediately ripped open the bag to find a blue puppy collar.My mom then said that she was surprising me with a puppy. When I get out we are immediately greeted by the yelps and whines of these adorable yellow lab puppies. The breeder meets us and says hello and asks me if I would like to see the puppies I excitedly say yes! She walks over to the circular puppy cage and opens its mouth there are a stream of puppies that flood out. I sit down in the grass and they all funnel towards me. Now I sit there covered in puppies getting enough kisses until my heart is content. The breeder points out there are only two puppies that are available both males. After sitting there the puppies went about their way and all started playing with each other besides one. This certain puppy was the darker of the two which I thought looked pretty cute he sat there in my lap kissing me and i held him close and told my mom this puppy was the choice. I took the collar and put it on the puppy and I was so excited to take him home with us and give him unconditional love. The breeder then tells us we still have to wait another week because he is not weened off of his mother yet and was only 7 weeks old. This week was dreadful the waiting seemed like it was taking forever but finally the day came. We took that long strange drive once again and ended up at the breeders house again and I finally got my baby in the car and he rode all the way home right in my lap. Once home all I wanted to do was play so we played for awhile and then settled in for afternoon cartoons and cuddling underneath the john deere blanket my aunt had given me. Little did I know this dog would end up becoming my world and my best friend. He helped my through a lot of stuff my parents had divorced at the age of 4 I was the age 9 now and still feeling the affects of living with my single mother. We had moved three times since the divorce and my mother had bought a house in the small town of Richland. The first night I had with my small friend he slept in my room in his crate he was fine until 2-3 A.M. when he had rested enough to recover from the playing and started barking and whining. My mom came into my room and turned on the light and picked up the cage and took him downstairs and took him outside. He then slept in the kitchen for the rest of his crate years lesson learned about having a puppy in the crate the first night. We put a curious George clock on it so he could hear its ticking and would compare it to his mothers heartbeat when he was in the womb. By the second day I had come up with the name graham after my first grade buddies name. Every single day graham and I would play for hours on end and then sleep together and eat together he was the joy of my childhood. One day in the summer my mom asked me if I would like to take graham over to the local lake where my grandpa lived I excitedly said yes. I had grown up on this lake and enjoyed fishing and boating on the lake. We sat at the end of the dock enjoying wraps and sun chips soaking up the sun. My grandpa's friend Allison was down swimming in the lake talking to us and all the sudden graham went off of the dock and none of us noticed. Allison jumped to the rescue when she had realized what had happened and saved Graham.
Graham immediately fell in love with the water although not the dock. For years to come Graham and I would swim in the lake and enjoy each others company. My mom had been dating a guy named Jeff and he had a border-collie name Kat. Graham and Kat were best friends together and would spend lots of time playing out in the yard. One day when Graham was around four years old, Kat was in heat so Graham was trying to seduce her with his good looks of course. My mom was keeping a close eye on them but I had left the pool gate open allowing them to be out of sight and well the rest is self explanatory.
A couple months later graham became the dad to 11 puppies one being stillborn. This was very exciting and I enjoyed having all of the puppies around. Kat would not let the puppies eat so my mom, Jeff and I all bottle fed the puppies. I had picked out a puppy who had brown fur and was the biggest in the litter. I decided to name him moose and we ended up keeping him. After the 8 weeks and all the vet bills and bottle feeding the puppies it was time to find a home for them. Moose stayed and the rest were given away for free to people who worked at the hospital with my mother and good friends. Everyone loved the cute puppies and I loved Moose. Graham and Moose would run and play together all day long and enjoy themselves wearing down each other. They would come in from outside and grab a drink of water and spread it all throughout the floor in the kitchen making for a slobbery mess. After my mom had dated Jeff for 5 years we had moved in with him taking Graham and Moose with us Kat, Graham, and Moose ran around the yard playing. The summers to come Graham and I would swim in Jeff's pool together I had taught him how to climb in and out of the pool with a ladder. At nights we would sleep together and enjoy our companionship that we had both come to love so much. I shared a bond specifically with him that I don't think anyone else could have. Being a single child I grew up with Graham and he was like my brother. Graham is now seven we play ball on a regular basis one of his new favorite things to play is frisbee he will run underneath the disk as it flys and wait till he can lunge and catch it in his mouth. After these workouts he would become sore and his rear legs would bother him so he would get lots of cuddling and reassurance that he will be alright. He would quickly recover from the pain and want to go play for hours on end the next day although we would limit it to about twenty minutes. My mom decided that it was time to move out of Jeff's house in search of new experiences so we moved into a quiet little apartment in the country. Graham of course came with us but moose stayed as he and his mother were unseperable. Graham being eight now quickly adjusted to apartment life he wasn't needing as much excersize and entertainment as he did when he was a puppy and that showed graham spent a better part of the day sleeping and resting while we were at school and work. I would be the first to come home and let him out to do his afternoon business then I would let him in and he would lay on my feet while I sat watching tv and playing video games after school. He would always look at me and ask for a scratch or give me a kiss. The thing I loved most about graham is if he knew I was sad, upset, or mad he would walk up to me and jump and put his front legs around me and give me a hug. He would always know what I am feeling and I loved that about him if he was nervous he would do this nervous lick and he would lick his chops and then slap his teeth together in a slow motion. It was february 8th and I came down with a sore throat that Friday night Graham went to bed with me to comfort me the next week I was sick with strep throat and stayed home with my best friend trying to feel better. He would comfort me in the days and sit there with me always checking up on my while I slept or cuddling up on my feet. Sunday February 17th my mom took graham to Jeff's for a play date and I stayed home. She arrived at Jeff's and opened the door to the Jeep Graham jumped out and went to the nearest bush to mark his territory. While doing this Graham got sidetracked and ran across the road into the woods across the road a car barely misses him when he darts across. Graham frightened turns around and my best friend, brother, and heart gets hit by a oncoming truck. He runs across the road up the bank and falls over. My mom runs to him and he is in shock she held his head in her lap telling him how much of a good boy he was and he is the best dog ever and Graham took his last few breaths in her lap and said goodbye. My mom couldn't come to tell me until she got home that night she walked in and walked into the kitchen. I could tell something was wrong she came and sat on the floor in front of me and said the words I never want to hear again in my life Graham got hit by a car and he's gone now. I immediately was filled with anger because he was the adventurous type of dog who always loved to take off from her and I would always tell her to put him on a leash. I stood up and threw a punch into the apartment wall, tears running down my face I walk down the hallway and throw another punch going through the wall. I have lost my best friend I go into my bedroom and cry into my pillow not knowing what I will do without Graham. I cry and get all of my pictures I have of him and just stare at what used to be my best friend. I talk to him saying Graham I love you so much and hope you are safe and healthy. I hope you are enjoying lots of love right now your my everything. I then realize what I have done to my mother and go out into the kitchen and go to say something but is quickly drowned out by sobs and shaking. She does the same feeling guilty and so sad for our loss. She tells me what happened and how she wrapped him in my flannel bed sheets the ones him and I used to cuddle on and put his collar the one I had recently made for him out of paracord. I wish I could have the collar to remember him but I soon remember that he has taken it on with him into his next life and will get to enjoy it until I see him. She buried Graham in the same field out by the woods where we would go play fetch and frisbee on summer days, out by the pools and where he would of liked to be put to rest so he could make the final journey of his physical life. I tell my mom how I wish I could of been there to hold him and bury him so I know It was done right and she reassures me. It is around 9 O'clock at night and I am still not feeling well so I go to bed in shock and lay there then I remember that Grahams favorite toy is outside. I put my shoes and my coat on and run and go get his favorite toy out of the cold weather air. I bring it inside and grab his tennis ball that was laying on the floor and place his toys on his bed next to mine. They are still sitting there I want to wake up one night and have my best friend sleeping there like how he used too. Today is February 18th and I am writing this in memory of my best friend so I can never forget all the good times I had with him. I will always love him and never forget him he was truly the best dog! I love you Graham I am going to hold onto your favorite toy forever and bring it to you when it is time for us to meet once again. I hope you are with me in spirit enjoying all of these precious thoughts. Once again I love you Graham and you will never be forgotten you were my brother.
In Memory of Graham Fish my best friend, brother, companion and panda.
February 17th 2013