I adopted Mahina, a Great Pyrenees, eight years ago when she was five. Her former family was moving from 2-acres in Maui to a tiny apartment in Malaysia — no place for a large dog bred for guarding flocks of sheep in the mountains.
She came home with me, and the first thing she did was jump into my landlord’s lap pool. He was not pleased, and we soon moved into a house of our own. But she lay around like a fluffy white carpet, and that worried me; health problems would likely ensue if she didn’t get more exercise. So we got her a pal, Poky, and then another, Mishu. That’s when the fun really started. When it came to playing chase and wrestling in the grass, there was no stopping them.
We then moved to a large piece of land (~90 acres) on the Big Island with streams, waterfalls and forests. Mahina and her two canine pals romped day and night. They became expert swimmers and, eventually, crack wild pig hunters. Oh, the adventures we had! There are too many to list here, but suffice it to say that Mahina and I bonded while exploring every hill and gulch on that land. She was nearly always at my side.
We’ve since moved back to Maui and gone through many changes, mostly good, like bringing Adam in as co-pack leader. But we faced some challenges, too. It was hard to adjust to living inside a fenced yard, for both of us. Still, we’ve continued to walk every day and swim in natural pools as much as we can. Poky and Mishu try to wrestle with Mahina, even though she can’t anymore. Those two dogs have helped to keep us all from taking ourselves too seriously.
But all those happy years of roaming, exploring and playing have finally taken their toll on Mahina. She has spinal arthritis that has been gradually worsening over the past nine months. Her time on this earth is almost up. Last April we realized that the medicine we’ve been giving her was only buying us a little more time with her. Come Monday, that time will run out.
So to honor the amazing life we’ve had because of and with Mahina, this weekend is dedicated to her; no blogging, no twittering, no working — just time with our beloved dog. We’ll take her on a final swim in a natural pool and spoil her like crazy with treats and rubs at her going away party. In the quiet moments, I’ll steal glances of her laying in the grass out in the yard. Just knowing she’s still nearby is a quiet joy that I want to savor as long as I can.
Gen- This was amazingly beautiful and gracefully peaceful. I am so sorry for your loss and envious of your companionship. May Mahina always run with the wind and soak in the sweet water. May she bask in the bright, warm sunlight and sleep at your feet. And may she be ever free to roam where ever it is she pleases. Her spirit will never leave you and in the future I hope you catch glimpses of her in your travels.
I FEEL FOR YOU GUYS. OUR BELOVED 17-1/2 YEAR OLD CAT, MILES, PASSED AWAY THIS PAST TUESDAY. THERE ISN’T A DAY THAT GOES BY THAT I THINK OF ALL THE LOVE AND KISSES SHE HAS GIVEN ME OVER THE YEARS. THEY BECOME YOUR FAMILY AND YOUR BEST FRIEND. I DID GET TO MEET YOUR BEAUTIFUL DOG WHEN I WAS ON THE ISLAND FOR YOUR WEDDING AND SHE WAS SOMETHING TO SEE.
Genn,
What a moving tribute to such a beautiful creature, my eyes are tearing up just writing this to you…. Erik and I send our condolences and sympathy for your great loss. Erik and I had a similar situation about 10 years ago, we adopted this cute little pit bull puppy from the SPCA, she was about 8 weeks old when we brought her home to love her (she was rescued from a drug house in the worst part of Buffalo). We spoiled her like crazy and gave her boat loads of love!!! Her name was Amber by the way. My mother-in-law used to come and pick her up during the day to get her out of her crate for some daily exercise (Amber loved her Grandma). One afternoon just like all the others Jeanette came to pick her up and take her to her house to play, they pulled into the driveway and Amber wanted to go immediately into the backyard, so Jeanette let her back there while she went into the house to begin prepping for dinner. Within 5 minutes Jeanette heard screeching tires out in front of the house, so she ran to see what all the commotion was and she saw a man standing outside of his truck with my beloved dog lying motionless on the side of the road. She frantically runs to check my little Amber and she is no longer breathing she was just still, & very quiet. She was gone. Just like that. Gone. Jeanette calls her husband home as well as Erik. Everyone was beside themselves. Erik walked over and scooped up our lifeless dog and began preparations to bury her in his parents’ backyard. Erik began digging a hole to put Amber to rest (this happened in January so digging the hole was quite a feat), he wrapped in a nice fuzzy blanket and placed her in the hole. I unfortunately I was at a training seminar and was unreachable. This happened at about 1:20pm, I was totally unaware of what was unfolding without my knowledge. When I finally arrived home, Erik was already there (it was unusual for Erik to be home before me), I walked in and he was sitting there in silence with his head in his hands. I asked him if he had gone and picked up Amber already from his parents house, he just shook his head saying “Amber, Amber, Amber”….. I was like “what about Amber?” He said “she’s gone honey, she’s gone”. After he told me everything that happened I had a huge rush of guilt come over me because the last thing I said to her after I placed her in her crate that morning was “I’ll see you later little girl, and don’t worry Grandma is coming to get you today, OK?’ I think I felt every possible emotion a human could feel all at the same time, anger, sadness, rage and unimaginable grief.
I felt horrible for Jeanette and I felt even worse for Erik having to be the one to see Amber’s condition and then have to bury his loyal companion, but he knew that’s what he had to do. We look back on her life and think to ourselves we were thankful to have her for the time that we did, we gave her tons of love and affection. God needed her more than we did and we are at peace with that….
Sorry I carried on like I did but in this case I can feel your loss and I wanted you to know that, even though the situations are not identical, I can still feel your loss. Love you guys, we’ll be in touch! Have a good trip to Brazil!