I Never Understood Why

     I was a young girl when we had our dog, Sandy. Sandy was totally devoted to and protective of my mother; always keeping a watchful eye on her. Get too close to mom and you might get snapped at, something that I personally found to be true on more than one occasion. Even with this 'issue' he was a great family dog. I guess every dog has their alpha in their family and for Sandy that was mom.
     My brother and I spent a lot of time playing with Sandy, eventually there came a time when he began to play less and less and got a bit more snappy.
     To my surprise, one morning I was told by my mom that I was to go to Karen's (my next door neighbor and best friend). On Saturday mornings I always had some assigned chore I had to do before I could go out to play. On that particular morning, I was told to go play. No chores? I didn't need to be told twice on that. I don't even know if my feet touched the ground as I flew out the door and raced to Karen's house.
     After being at Karen's for only a short time, I looked through a window at the same moment that my dad was carrying Sandy to his car. Puzzled by what I had observed, I hurried home and found my mom in tears. I asked where dad had taken Sandy and mom explained that Sandy was sick and needed to go to the doctor. I wasn't too worried, because from my own experience if you are sick, you go to the doctor and then come home.
     Sitting at the living room window, I waited anxiously for dad to return with Sandy. When I saw dad's car, I hurried to the kitchen to greet Sandy with a big hug. As dad walked in I peeked around his legs, expecting to see Sandy following behind, wagging his tail. But there was no Sandy. With tears in his eyes, dad knelt down and put his arms around me, and explained that Sandy was very sick and would not be coming home.
     Being that I was just a kid I didn't understand this, so everyday I would tell dad that it was time for us to bring Sandy back home. After sometime went by I asked my mom when we would get another dog. Mom's only reply was, "Your dad doesn't want another dog."
     Each time I posed this question I received the same answer. Whenever I would ask my dad why, his reply was always, "A dog is too expensive and requires too much work. So no more dogs."
     I knew dad loved dogs, so I could never understand why he always firmly said "no".
     We'll just have to see about that....

     So long, I'll see you soon!