Three Trees
Soon there will be three trees in my backyard for three pets I have lost. The third one will be planted soon because I lost Sabaka, the Siberian Husky I raised from a pup. She died painfully today. We did what we could to ease her pain and probably saved her an hour or two of vomiting blood, but not much more. The vet, who had the frankness of compassion, told us it was likely a tumor in her heart. She was 9 years old. She came into our family when she was just old enough to taken from her mother. I went to the breeder's and saw a littler of Siberian Huskies, all of them with reddish coats and tawny eyes. Except one. She was black and white and had the most piercing blue eyes. I chose her for her eyes. I named her Sabaka, which is Russian for 'dog' because my father had done something similar with a Norwegian Elk-hound he'd had when he was my age and I liked the simplicity of it. I loved that dog. She was nine years old, but I always called her a puppy. Because she was, in many ways. She never grew up. She never lost her playful expressive quirks, her curiosity, or her puppy's wariness. I dug her grave myself, just like I did for the two dogs that came before her and next weekend I will go to the nursery and pick out another Sanbokan lemon tree to plant over her grave. I love her and I'll always carry the happiness she gave me with me.