An Anniversary…

Last Saturday (March 19th) was the 1 year anniversary of Mya’s passing. I wanted to write about it but with everything going on I – a) didn’t really have time, and b) didn’t want to add to the already ridiculous amount of drama we were experiencing.

Remember when my blog was always happy stuff? That’s what we like and are trying to get back to.

In the meantime, we deal with an anniversary of the passing of someone we cared about very much.

Right after Mya passed away, Ray (of meandray.com) suggested that I write a tribute post about Mya because, other than her being a senior with diabetes, you all didn’t know much about her. I decided then that I was going to do it on the 1 year anniversary of her passing.

So here it goes….

It all started back in late November of 2000 when Mom was a freshman in high school. Mom and Grandpa went to the pet store to get crickets for their lizard to eat. Mom, as usual, went right to where they kept the puppies and kittens. The store owner’s dogs recently had a litter of Mini Long-haired Dachshunds (like Frankie and Ernie! Wait…are they minis?) Mom picked up this itty bitty teensy weeny black and tan puppy who had a black spot on each of her tan feet that looked like oil/ink spots. She fell in love immediately. Mom had been asking for a dog since her dad and his girlfriend separated and the dog stayed with his ex-girlfriend. Grandpa said, “NO!”

For the next week or two, Mom begged and begged and begged (they had been to the pet store once or twice since the first time). Grandpa always giving his classic line, “NO! Capital N-O!”

One day, December 2, 2000, to be exact, Mom’s best friend was at the house and Mom begged Grandpa to take them to see the puppy. He said…”NO!” After begging and kicking her feet like a toddler, Grandpa finally took them to the pet store. Mom picked up Puppy Mya, walked to where my Grandpa was and said, “Look at this face! Pleaaaaaase?!”

And you know what Grandpa said?!?!?!

“Oh, for cryin’ out loud. Go pick out a leash and leave me alone!”

Mom’s jaw hit the floor. She couldn’t believe it. She said, “Are you kidding me?” and Grandpa said, “No! Now go before I change my mind!”

It turns out that Grandpa had gone back to the pet store after they first saw Mya and paid for her. He was just torturing Mom all along. BAHAHAHAHA!

So, Grandpa, Mom, Mom’s best friend, and Mya all went home. It was Mom’s best friend who named Mya.

She was SO tiny when they got her:

See the oil/ink spot on her front paw?!

Mya’s favorite thing to do in the whole world was chasing lizards. Somewhere along the way, she confused the word “buggies” with lizards and if Grandpa said, “buggies” she’d go lizard hunting. She would remember every place she had ever seen a lizard and every time she would go outside, she would check each of those places. EVERY SINGLE TIME!

“Buggies” could almost always be found here…

…and sometimes they were here.

Mya was one of the best zoomie zoomers in history. She used to run so fast throughout the house that Grandpa was afraid she would ruin the carpet. She had a zoomie path that she always followed: around the coffee table, under the dining room table, into Grandpa’s room, into the den, jump on/off the couch and back again.

My Grandpa taught Mya to wipe her feet on the mat after walks and he and Mom both taught her to get her own leash to go for a walk.

Mya loved teasing everyone with her toys. She’d bring them just barely close enough to you that when you’d reach for them, she’d grab it and run. One of the tricks Grandpa taught her was to push her toys to him so he could throw them. She’d get in her “barely close enough” spot and he’d say “push it” and she’d use her nose to push what ever toy it was (rope, ball, dumbbell, etc.) to him.

She was a very smart dog. So smart that she convinced Mom and Grandpa to give her a place at the dining room table.

She would get a tiny bit of plain spaghetti, chicken, meatloaf, or whatever they were eating that night. (I really need to work on getting this myself!)

Much later in her life, Mya had a bout of pancreatitis after repeatedly getting into the cat’s food and soon after, she developed diabetes. When she was 12, she developed full blown cataracts in her eyes in a matter of 3 weeks. The fast development of the cataracts caused blindness, glaucoma and one of her retinas ulcerated. While she was in the hospital her “good” eye started to ulcerate. At first, Mom and Grandpa were going to make that dreaded decision to say goodbye to her because of how sick she was always getting with the diabetes (always high and then crashing, multiple hospital stays, etc.) Then they decided on something called double enucleation of the eyes (removal of the eyes). They only did this since she was already blind. The decision to do that was awful for both of them. For a long time, it ate away at them. Sometimes it still bothers Mom.

It all worked out, though. Mya, like most animals, adjusted just fine and went on to live another year and a half. We noticed that she actually did better getting around once her eyes were gone – she must’ve still been seeing shadows before. Even without eyes, she was beautiful to us.

Her last few months were difficult and that can all be found in my posts from when the my blog started in November 2014 until her passing on March 19, 2015.

We love and miss you, Mya!!!