Armani
Armani and I have been everywhere together. He’s lived with me in Long Island, upstate New York, Kansas and DC. He’s stayed with me in hotels in Indiana, Ohio, Missouri and Illinois. We have flown on airplanes together, gone camping and canoeing. We have lived together on a farm, in a trailer and many apartments. We have been through an ice storm, snow storms, hurricanes and tornados. Armani has seen me graduate from undergrad, vet school and my internship. Armani helped shape me into the little lady that I am today, and I am so thankful that I was able to call myself his momma for all these years.
When I sat down and started thinking what I wanted to write, I felt overwhelmed with emotion. My mind literally turned into a movie reel of fantastic memories. I have so many happy and silly memories of my baby boo. I would like to share a few of the ones that were most memorable for both of us.
When I first adopted Armani we lived in upstate NY. There was this really big hill that you had to climb up to get to my apartment complex. When Armani didn’t feel like walking anymore he would just sit and look at me. I remember one time he decided that he was done walking and the only way we were both getting home was for me to carry my 50lbs of smoosh up the hill to the front door.
My freshman year of vet school Armani became a service dog. I remember I was so nervous the day of his test and just before we went in, I looked him in the eyes, and told him to please be good, b/c he would really like this experience. Part of the test was an obstacle course where the dogs had to navigate through wheelchairs and walkers without knocking anyone over, Armani did great! After he passed his test, we spent many Sunday mornings at the local nursing home putting smiles on lots of little old ladies and little old men’s faces.
I went canoeing once with Armani when we were camping. He was doing so great in the canoe. I remember turning around for one second and then turning back and he wasn’t in the canoe anymore. He had jumped out of the canoe, and sunk straight into the water like a sack of potatoes. I jumped in (with clothes & shoes), grabbed my baby boo from under the water, and I decided that was the last time we were going to go canoeing.
Armani use to come to the beach all the time with me. Sometimes we would sit down and people watch. He was always content with just sitting in the sun. One time, some guy was flying a kite and Armani chased the kite on the ground. The guy said to me he’s never seen a dog do that before. Armani did a lot of things that I have never seen a dog do before. One time he was in the ocean and he went a little farther out then he normally goes, and he actually swam back! He seriously doggy paddled back!!! I was so proud of him.
Dressing him up on Halloween, him opening Christmas presents and then trying to open my presents, car rides long & short, puppy cups and all our other adventures are memories that I will treasure forever.
Armani I would like to say:
Thank you for loyally sleeping next to me during the day when I worked overnights for weeks on end, even though you weren’t tired.
Thank you for being my bestest friend in Kansas, especially when I moved there and I didn’t know a soul. I never felt lonely when I was with you.
Thank you for being a goofy little boy, and always doing the strangest things. Almost everything you did made me smile, laugh or just appreciate life a little more.
I miss Armani so much. My heart hurts knowing that I will never get to touch him, kiss him or sleep next to him in bed. The first few days after Armani had passed away some of the hardest things were not getting into bed with him at night and not getting out of bed with him in the morning, not needing to fill up his food bowl or making sure that he had fresh water with ice in it or taking him to the bathroom. Aramani always wanted to kill the vacuum, and being able to just vacuum the house without hearing him try to attack the vacuum through the door was very sad. One of the hardest things was thinking about the future and the things that I still wanted to do with him. There were so many adventures I wanted to take him on.
When Armani came into my life, it was a time where there was a lot of change. When Armani left this world there was finally consistency in my life. I know when Armani left, he knew I was in a good place. He knew I had great friends to lean on, in the happy times and the tougher times. He knew I was doing my best going to work and trying to make a difference in pets & peoples lives. I know he knew I would be okay.
I am okay Armani, but I miss you so much. You loved me unconditionally and I know that you know I loved you the same. You will always be my #1 smoosh. I may not be able to touch you, kiss you or sleep next to you in bed anymore, but you will always be in my heart, which means you will be with me on all my future adventures. I love you as much as anyone could love anything. I promise to always think about you and send you the most loving happy energy. Thank you for everything you brought to my life.
