My hero, Mimi
She passed away on 10/23/07 approximately 7:30 pm. She had diabetes for more than a year ago. Despite of her repaid weight lost and the advancing cataract, she was still as lively as before. Maybe she slept more and in need to go to bathroom more frequently. She also drank a lot. However, the illness didn't take away what she really is. She has been a strong girl even till the last day. A loyal companion wished no other things than to hang around with me all the time. Even before the day she was putted to sleep, she managed to gather all of her strength to make me not to worry about her condition. Two days before she was putted to sleep she went into a state of shock. She couldn't stand and refused to eat. She looked extremely disoriented. The next morning she behaved a little less than normal but began to eat. I was very glad she was eating again and only having some slight discomfort walking. Thank you Mimi. However, the next morning she refused to wake up or to eat at all. I knew it was time for her to go. She had done all she could for me and it was my turn. When I got to work I called my local vet and scheduled for a visit to have her putted to sleep that night. I wasn't able to get home until some 8 hours later. The wait was agonizing since I feared that she might die alone. When I got home, once again, she came through. She was wild awake and seem to have eaten some food as well. It was time and I took her to the vet. The last thing I wanted to see was to have her putted to sleep while she was in so much pain. She passed away very peacefully and with dignity that she deserved.
There was this particular incidence that stood out during that night. As if there was some Greater Force or The Spirit acting and governing on world events, a young girl rushed in to the local vet and cried out about her dog being ran over by a car. I believed she and her brother were playing outside around 7 pm while their 1 year old dog was running loose. There I was holding Mimi in my blanket waiting to put my aging dog to sleep while a much younger pup got hit by car due to carelessness of his younger, immature masters. The receptionist and the mother of those kids dragged the unfortunate dog in to the emergency room. Unfortunately, the dog was dead on the spot. The mother couldn't afford the fees to give the deceased dog the proper burial and closure. There were a lot of commotions going on between the young girl and the mother. I was witnessing all this drama but couldn't figure how would this incidence make any sense to what I was going through. I was just worrying how the death of Mimi would affect me and whether or not I was doing the right thing. Initial moment of my realization of her passing away was a shock to me. I cried. It took me 2 days to finally realize how lucky I have been to have her as a life long companion. How strong she has been since the day she had diabetes. She is my hero.
She came into my life during 1998. At that point in my life I was pretty much in a state of disarray as a result of personal relationship problem and people, who I thought was on my side, around me. Indeed, the whole world, people that I have known, was against me--even the person I thought the otherwise. One day, my parents decided to get Mimi from her friend because Mimi, according to her ridiculously superstitious Chinese friend, was incompatible with their German Shepard. They couldn't keep her any more either she was too small to play and to live along with their aging German Shepard or she clashed with the geomancy of the household. Why does pretentious, somewhat financially competent Chinese business man get themselves all entangled with geomancy? I was brought up in this environment and my parents weren't even financially competent!! Fortunately, I was born a soldier and worship the spirit of the Earth. One night we came over their house and picked up Mimi. Funny that she seemed glad to have left the household. She didn't cry or experience any emotional distress. She was somewhat attached to her first caretaker, basically the daughter and her boyfriend. I was holding her in my arms and she just looked at me. I took her home that night.
It didn't take long before she became attached to me. She always wanted to sleep with me on my bed and I let her. Especially during the Winter, she just loves to snuggle into my cover and buried her head in it. She learned to jump out and onto my bed early on. She was quite an active dog inside the house. I had a lot of time during that period of my life because I just graduated from college and unemployed. She has no problems getting attention from me and everyone in the family. She also loves to jump right up by the window and looking outside and smelling the air like a cat. There was this particular funny incidence though. I was walking her at the back driveway of the house. I unleashed her. Somehow, she began to run around and kept on running. I was very nervous whether or not she would get hit by a car. I didn't want to chase her because she would even run faster. I just kept following her at a walking pace. It turned out she ran back to the house front entrance. That was funny. She just stood by the door and looking at me as if telling me to hurry the hell up. She also didn't like to take a shower. Whenever she had a shower, afterward, she would dash around the house until she jumped on the sofa. She would then roll herself all over it for couple of minutes. She seemed to love to do that.