tellhimfred.com

Yesterday was shaping up to be a pretty monumental day. I got an offer from a startup here in the Boston-area to be employee #12, and it was just too good to pass up. They seem really excited to have me there, and I’ll start work in March. So, after months of being unemployed and doing some consulting, I finally have a full-time gig I can be excited about.

So when I called my parents to tell them about it, I was pretty happy. I told them all the details and my dad said “It’s good to hear some good news today”, which made me ask what bad things had gone down. Well, they had to put the dog down.

Sam was a HUGE black lab. We’re talking in the 120 pound range. In the last year or so he had a problem with one of his back legs, and it looked like a softball was under his fur. It was tremendously painful to the point he could no longer go down stairs. Each night my dad would have to carry him upstairs to go to bed.

In the last week, he wouldn’t go outside anymore and could not eat.

Yesterday when my dad came home, Sam’s leg was bleeding. He took him to the vet, and they had to put him on a stretcher to get him out.

There was no other option. He was in extreme pain, and wasn’t going to get better.

I remember when we got him in 1996 as a puppy. He was this tiny puppy with enormous feet. I’ll never forget teaching him to walk up and down stairs. In the space of an afternoon he went from being reluctant to take a step to taking three at a time at full speed, doing laps around our house up and down the back decks.

I feel so bad for my parents who absolutely were crazy about him. Look around their house and you’ll see black lab photos everywhere, and my favorite: a great photo of Sam eating a snow cone (my dad is a really amazing photographer).

That’s the worst thing about these domesticated beasts. You spend so much time with them and get so attached, and unfortunately they don’t stay around forever.

I’ll miss you buddy.