Lil Bit

c.1974

He was my first dog.
The only dog I ever remember growing up.
My Dad, who was a mailman brought him home one day after seeing him repeatedly on his route when no one claimed him.
I don't remember what year it was, my only childhood memories are of him being there.
All the kids in the neighborhood loved him because he would run and chase and play with us.
He was gentle and sweet.
A small black and white terrier who provided my entire family with incredible love and loyalty.
I was 19.
He may have been too. We of course never knew his age. He was a full grown dog when Daddy brought him home.
He as you can see in the above photo the gray creeping in around the muzzle and he was slowing down.
I plainly remember sitting with him as he lay in his bed in my parents bedroom. I had been there for hours studying because I was in college at the time. I knew he was not well. I knew he wouldn't be us for much longer. I checked him sleeping peacefully and thought he needed some privacy, so I slipped out of the room. Yes, he did want some privacy. In those few moments he slipped from this world to the next. I walked back in to check on him and he was gone.
Gone.
Lil Bit...
Gone.
I ran to get my Dad. It was the first time in my life I had ever seen my Dad weep. I don't know if he remembers but I held onto him as we both cried for Bitsy.
He buried him underneath the bedroom window, not far from where he normally slept.

Some time after you had gone Bitsy,
I heard you again,
I knew it was you.
Your click - click - click - clack nails against the linoleum -- plain as day.

You missed us too.

I can't tell you how many days I came home expecting to find you on the front room couch, only to find the couch empty. I can't tell you how many times I sat there and cried for you.
We all did.
You live on forever in our hearts and our memories.

That year WILDFIRE was a hit on the radio and every time I heard it the words just beat up against my heart. Because I understood.......and every time I hear that song now, I think of you and it still beats up against my heart....they say she died one winter....

You lived a good life,
a long good life
but...........
that does not diminish the loss...

WILDFIRE by Michael Murphy

She comes down from Yellow Mountain
On a dark flat land she rides
On a pony she named Wildfire
With a whirlwind by her side
On a cold Nebraska night

Oh they say she died one winter
When there came a killin’ frost
And the pony she name Wildfire
Busted down his stall
In a blizzard he was lost

She ran calling Wildfire
She ran calling Wildfire
She ran calling Wildfire

By the dark of the moon I planted
But there came an early snow
There’s been a hoot owl howlin’ by my window now
For six nights in a row
She's coming for me I know
And on Wildfire we're both gonna go

We’ll be riding Wildfire
We’ll be riding Wildfire
We’ll be riding Wildfire

On wildfire we’re gonna ride, oh
We’re gonna leave sodbustin’ behind
Get these hard times right on out of our minds
Riding Wildfire

35 years later, I still miss you.