Isabella, My Angel

Being raised in a strict, and dysfunctional family had caused much alone time. One of the things I appreciated was the love of animals I was taught, from my mother and my grandfather.

So much of my desires, dreams, and goals in life were kept in secret, in fear of bringing shame to my family, I realized that our pets didn't seem to judge, they loved me no matter what, which is what inspired me to write this true short story.

My mother had lived with me, since I was in my late 20s, and it was August 8, 2003, as I was stocking the cooler at the store I worked at, I saw a woman at the counter with a little white puppy on her shoulder, I ran out to look at the puppy.

She was brindle white, and so small, you could hold her in your hand. The woman said she had to find a home for her tonight, or her husband would set her loose.

I looked at the puppy and thought, I had at home a blind Labrador, and 5 cats. I thought about it for a millisecond, and I knew I had to do something.

I brought the little puppy home that night, and introduced her to the rest of the gang, after a few days we decided to call her Isabella, or Izzy for short.

After a short time, we realized Izzy was very unique, she had traits that we never saw before, after doing some research it seems that Izzy was a Canaan Dog, which is one of the oldest breeds known, which dates back to Biblical times.

Izzy had done so many things that amazed me, she took 6 twenty-dollar bills, and hid them under the bed, we made the mistake in taking her shopping one day, we had bought 8 Kawalski hotdogs, left them in the car for less than 5 minutes, when we got back, not one hot dog was left, both were done when she was only a year old.

Years later we rescued a Jack Russell, Co-Co and accidentally left the gate open, well the Co-Co took off, and in a millisecond, Izzy became aerodynamic and flew after her, I chased them and found Izzy had cornered Co-Co until I got there.

Since I worked midnights, Izzy would protect my mother whenever I was at work, she was my best friends' daughters' friend, they would lay together watching cartoons as we played cards.

Whenever I was sick, she would block me so I couldn't go anywhere, she would stare at you, before coming and herding you back to bed she would wake up if you had a nightmare to make sure you okay, she became a service dog for my mother carrying things from the car into our house.

Izzy's eyes and expression spoke volumes, you almost knew what she was thinking, Co-Co knocked and broke the fan once, and Izzy's look at her could kill, when I got a new fan, she kept Co-Co so far from it as I took it out of the box.

That fan, turned to be her favorite things in life, besides those hot dogs, and a rubber tire toy she would fetch.

Izzy welcomed any dog that we would sit for at times but would also herd or let any of them know when they did wrong.

Co-Co had a stroke, and went blind after some time, Izzy was her buddy, led and played with her, they ate and slept together as they always did.

By January of 2020, we saw that it was near the end of Izzy, she had never been sick in the 16-17 years we had her, and now she couldn't walk that well, she was tired all the time, and even went deaf for a short period of time, turns out she had a tumor on her spleen, we decided as the vet did that surgery would be too much for a dog of that age.

It was on a Sunday, toward the first part of February of 2020, we said goodbye to my angel Izzy, there wasn't a dry eye in the office, the vet, vet techs, and we were all in tears as this precious angel fell asleep.

The neighbor came down and embraced us, as she let her dog say goodbye to Izzy, it's almost like the two dogs knew what was happening.

The company we order our pet food from sent a bouquet of flowers with a sympathy card.

Sweet Co-Co went to sleep on April 1, 2021, leaving a void in our lives for some time, not really ready to go through the sadness again, but in the late spring of 2022 we rescued a year-old kitten, he's a little crazy, and very different than most cats.

Izzy showed me that there are animals that need to be rescued, and to continue showing love for them, and not to be sad over her being gone, she lived the best, and happiest life she could.

It has been 4 years, and even at 56 I still have moments where I shed a tear, or cry as I remember the memories of Isabella, my angel, and those will remain in my heart now, and forever.

RIP Sweet Izzy, my angel. {6/03-2/20}