My Dog Sami

On January 8th, 2011, my dog, Sami, passed away. She was 12 and a half years old; a Golden Retriever mix but looked like a Lab. Her favorite thing was be petted. She hardly ever barked and loved to play ball when she was younger. Her only real trick was to shake your hand, and even that got hard for her to do over the past year. She was a link between families and unceasingly loyal. In the last few months of her life, she loved to hop up on the red chairs in the living room and hang out.

As I think about her, it seems kind of silly on the surface to attribute a greater purpose to a dog, but I think she's deserving of it. She was an example of selfless love, even if she was just acting on instinct with her "pack". She was always there to remind you that you weren't alone, and she would drop anything to follow you, even if she was already snuggled up in her chair. Her purpose was to be an example of love and loyalty for us. After all, what greater source to learn about the most basic principles of life than from nature herself? We learned in school about the Jesuit mindset of finding God in all things. In Sami's case, that was easy.

I hope this is a fitting memorial for such a great dog. I painted this watercolor of her back in 2007, in her classic pose.