TODAY WE WELCOME BACK GUEST AUTHOR, SNJEZANA MARINKOVIC, WHO IS SHARING AN EXCERPT FROM HER NOVEL, 'ROCKY: THE TRUE STORY OF A DOG WHO ADOPTED HUMANS NOBODY ELSE WANTED'. #RWRTeamBlog #ReadWriteRepeat
- 3 days ago
- 6 min read
ROCKY
The True Story of a Dog Who Adopted Humans Nobody Else
Wanted
“Do you have someone you can call?”
A man in scrubs stands before me, waiting for my answer. Just over his shoulder, I can see the emergency room door slightly ajar. Inside, the love of my life is struggling to breathe through an oxygen mask. I want to hope, but I feel that this might be where our story ends. This morning, I have to make a decision—alone, just like I have many times before—but this time is the hardest. What should I do? What should I say? Who could possibly understand that the life I am responsible for is not an ordinary life, and the love pulsing through me is not an ordinary love? My aching heart may wish to call someone, but there is no one to call. There are only two hearts, irrevocably connected, for better or worse, and that has always been more than enough. This love is everything.
I’m not the first to lose someone more precious to me than life itself or, in these last moments, to bargain with God and the universe to let a loved one, to let him, stay. I need him. We need more time together; this cannot be the end.
I study the man’s face to distract myself from this harsh reality. His eyes are growing heavy with boredom and impatience. I take a few seconds to find the right words as he glances at the exit door that leads to his personal life and family. I don’t expect him to understand that my child and I are about to lose our only family. We have built our lives around Rocky. There’s nobody for us to return home to, nobody else to love us.
“Do you have someone you can call?”
The vet’s voice echoes in my ears. He turns away and closes the door. I no longer hear my boy’s labored breathing, but I know he’s still alive, waiting for me to take him in my arms, put him in his favorite spot in the car, and drive him home for our last ride together. Even with these thick walls between us and the cacophony of hospital noise confusing my thoughts, I can feel the softness of his kind soul radiating to me. Even though we are physically apart, I feel his comforting presence. I hear his barking, which has followed me everywhere for twelve-and-a-half years. Now, as always, he waits for me. He’s ready to put this cold, sad place behind him, behind us. He won’t miss this last ride with me, not my Rocky.
***
The best love stories are often the most tragic. Losing a loved one is tragic, but is it possible to lose love like it’s something as mundane as your keys or phone? Probably, if we think of our beloved as one of our possessions. Does a true love story have an ending? It does if love is nothing but a word within a story. If you are lucky, you’ve already found someone who opened the door leading you into the story of love where no words are needed. Once you have, you will never look at the world the same way again because you will not speak about that love. You will breathe it in and out like the air around you. Only then will you feel all the happiness carried in other people’s hearts as if it were your own, embrace pain like you embrace love, and hold the hopes and dreams of others with care. They, too, will be a part of you.
Even the best romantic love stories can’t compare to the epic love story that begins when a dog chooses a human. When he makes his choice, he’s on a mission to connect heart-to-heart, soul-to-soul. It may take him some time to build that connection because his person may be swamped in self-doubt and self-criticism. His person may constantly be in a hurry, rushing through life, closing one door after another, turning her head away from others and her back on love. But the dog doesn’t give up easily. He works hard until his human is ready to step out of her comfort zone to let him teach her what he teaches best: that forgiving everything you can gives you more time to love everyone you should love.
The dog innately knows the human he is about to teach keeps falling back into old habits. When introduced to something new, it takes the dog days to decompress, weeks to understand it, and months to learn it. Yet he is the simplest being to please. Knowing how complex his human is, his patient nature gives them years to get from judgment to compassion, taking to giving, dividing to uniting, and from barely surviving to living joyfully.
It’s not coincidental that one specific dog, who lived in a tight corner, bumped into one specific person and fell irrevocably in love with her. He recognized they were both longing to fit in and that they both longed for unconditional love and security. He assumed that his wagging tail would become a magic wand for this person, and he was one hundred percent right.
He was about to show her that he didn’t care about her body measurements, the price tags on her clothes, or the size of her house. He wanted her to know that he only cared about what was inside of her: her true self. He accepted her the way she was even when she didn’t. Even when she wasn’t aware of the substance of her own being.
Many years passed before she realized what blessings that beautiful dog with different-colored eyes and wolfy coat brought into her life. Many years passed before she understood that the dog’s purpose was not to follow her around. Instead, he came to show her that every second is a precious moment that doesn’t repeat itself. She could get the best of life if she allowed herself to enjoy it and admitted how lucky she was to find someone to share these beautiful moments of joy with.
But one day, she could no longer see her dog by her side. She could only see people like her who spent most of their time figuring out how to live a long, happy life rather than making someone else feel loved and happy.
Her dog was the exact opposite. For him, she was the entire world, his whole life. He found happiness wherever she was. So his connection to her continued after his beautiful soul—his moment in time—left one realm and entered another.
Rocky showed her the true meaning of that connection, especially after her daughter was born. He was there for all the nursery rhymes, first solid foods, first steps, first games, and first school years. He never strayed far from the crib, stroller, or playground. As a therapy dog who worked with children in her daughter’s school, he often peeked inside her classroom to ensure she was doing well.
He adopted two humans, determined to love and care for them, and he did just that. Rocky gave everything, including his own life, to protect two little vulnerable souls roaming around a big, wide world.
Rocky knew they had nobody else but him. He knew how much they needed him . . . his protection . . . his guidance. His floppy ears and lolling tongue invited them to forget about everything wrong in life and have some fun. He understood them like nobody else because he knew how it felt to sit in a corner waiting for his hero—his rescuer—and be overlooked day after day. He knew how it felt when people passed by, paying no attention to his plea for help. He wanted his big and little girls to forget about those who didn’t care and to be happy with those who did. Like he was.
With Rocky, his human learned that a wagging tail was an open heart that loved and was always ready to love more, while a human’s quickly uttered “I love you” was open to speculation. There was nothing she looked forward to more than feeling a shiny, wet nose landing on her skin as soon as she returned home. His welcome could restore the energy people had drained. It made her feel cherished, beautiful, and worthy of love and kindness. She never slept more peacefully than when his four soft paws and her child’s two little hands were beside her. At no time did she love her life more than in moments like those. Yes, she and her daughter once had a wonderful family, and that family was Rocky.
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COMING SOON: On Monday, 12th January, our fabulous team member, author Richard 'Doc' Correa, is sharing an excerpt from his sci-fi novel, 'Rapier'.
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