I Died Today, by Duke Roberts

I ate a lot of hamburgers. We had a party.

And I laughed.

And I thought about how much I’m going to miss it here.

We told jokes.

We were serious.

My friends from next door came to see me. They’re twins. When someone offered them one of my hamburgers, one said, “No thank you. I don’t want to take any from Dukey.”

Kristen came to see me. She’s a hoot. She’s my groomer. And my buddy.

While we were waiting for the vet to come Kristen said we were going for a walk. Then someone said, “How about a play in the water at the splash park down the street?” So off we went!

“You know I’m going to miss you, right?”

“And you too, right?”

“I need you to help me watch over my family.”

“Did you hear me? This is all I want!”

We got wet today.

We smiled today.

We felt grateful today.

We broke the rules today.

I listened to the kids play off in the distance. And thought about my two babies at home. I loved protecting them.

I relaxed today.

I felt no pain. Even though the tumor grew so big.

I felt the love today.

I said goodbye to my beautiful friend Kira. She “saw” me standing over everybody before the doctor said it was time. I was excited & jumping & happy.

Well, I didn’t say goodbye. I said ’til we meet again.

God, I was lucky. Our time was short. But you both gave me a second chance & we lived it up together. You love when I look at you. I’ll never stop.

Always,

DUKEY

Image creditsAll photographs by Robyn Arouty and used with permission