You Don't Know What You Have Until It's Gone

            As we grow up, we start to realize that you don’t know what you have until it’s gone. We tend to take things for granted, and we don’t realize that when the littlest things in our life are taken away, we don’t know what to do.  This happened to me not too long ago.  In December 2011, my dog passed away.  

I had gotten my very own puppy for Christmas when I was just five years old.  I was so excited, I couldn’t wait to take care of him and love him.  His name was Max.  He was the best dog you could ever ask for.  He was very patient, didn’t bark much, loved everyone, potty-trained, and knew lots and lots of tricks.  He was a black lab that loved to go hunting with my dad, and swimming in the lake with my family.  Max always looked out for me and protected me as well as the rest of the family.

 Max and I were always very close, but when it came to taking care of him I wasn’t always the one to do it.  For a while, I kind of forgot about him and moved on with my own life, until a couple years later, he developed liver cancer and also had a tumor.  I became very worried and scared that all these past couple of years, I virtually forgot about him.   The vet said that you don’t need to worry until he stops eating.  A few weeks later, Max stopped eating.  Each day that I saw him, he began to suffer more and more.   About two weeks later, I was at school when my dad called me.  I did not pick up, so he left a message.  First of all, my dad never leaves messages, so I knew something wasn’t right.  I soon listened to the voicemail that said Max was struggling very bad and that I needed to come home, because that day was going to be Max’s last day with us.

 Right away I broke down into tears and was devastated.  I quickly rushed home to be with him as much as I could, almost making up for lost time.  When I got there, I saw Max walking around (for the first time since he has been sick) to my sister, my dad, me, and my step mom.  It was almost as if he knew what was going to happen, and he was saying his goodbyes.  My dad told me that we were going to put him down at two o’ clock  p.m. that day.  It was hard to take in, but I knew it had to happen.  After a little while,  Max laid down and took a nap. I laid with him praying for the best.

Once it reached almost two, I went in to the vet office with the rest of my family, and I listened to him take his last heartrending breathe.  There has been no lesser feeling in my life, then when I realized he was no longer with us.  I think about him everyday.  There are a lot of times when I wish that I could go back in time to play with him more, or take him on more walks because I know I’ll never get that time back.  There is a saying that says, all dogs go to heaven.  I really hope that this is actually true so I can see him one day again, but for now I think of him as my guardian angel, and my protector just like he used to be.

Through this tragic time for me, I’ve realized that I can’t always take things for granted.  I never realized how important and how much Max meant to me and the rest of my family.  I’ve learned that most of us do not realize what we have until its taken from us, so from now on, I’m going to cherish every grateful moment I have and spend time with the people I love, because you’ll never know when it will be gone.