Eulogy for Candy.

FOR CANDY
27 October 1992- 11 November 2008
Our Braveheart, You lived and we learnt.

People cry at funerals for different reasons. Some cry because they empathize, and other because they sympathise. And then there are those, who are the closest to the one who is buried six feet under, who cry because they are selfish. They cry not because they want the deceased to just live longer, but because they want them to live longer with them, comforting them.
Candy wasn't just another pet dog. She was royal, the queen of our household, charming, heartbreaker, sensitive, and most of all, compassionate. I remember her first day into our home. How she investigated around our house, and marked her places. How, although she was the size of Bingo's (my late Boxer, who was 6 months older than her) palm, and yet controlled the string his kite was attached to. Her demeanor was extraordinary. She scared no human, and loved them all unconditinally. She dictated her terms to all of us, and we were more than happy to comply to our queen.
On the night of 11th November 2008, at 11.35 p.m she passed away. She was 17 years old when she did. Yet, I knew it wasn't her time. I was with her when she took her last breath and no matter how hard it was for me to see that I was glad I was there for her. We beleive we did everything we could, but we still wanted to do more. Her last day on earth, she fought an intestinal obstruction. And her last few years on earth, she fought an unfortunate mammary tumor. No matter what, my braveheart did not give up easy, and fought until even winning wouldn't really have been winning at all. Everyone said to me, '17 years is a long and content life. She couldn't have asked for more.' But here's the thing about Candy, her love was so selfless and unconditional that it made us depend on her. Life is hard, and it will never get simpler. What will not change is that such moments will occur time and again, and try to make you stronger. If it hasn't killed me it has made me stronger.
I wish for her to be happy. And I wish that heaven truly exists where all the people who have gone away reunite. Good life after death for Good people. I hope that she has met Bingo already, and has started picking on him. I also pray that John Donne knew what he was talking about when he wrote the lines ' One short sleep past, we wake eternally. And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.'
No one ever imagines how their loved ones, their flesh and blood, and their life and soul would look like buried under ground. And when that unfortunate day arrives, nothing seems to pacify you. No logic, no reason, no heaven, no philosophical poems. Watching Candy lying still was my breaking point. I felt like shit. I felt like there is no reason for such a custom. But once she was covered up again, I told myself, that still thing lying six feet under is not Candy, but just the form she came on earth in. It can't be Candy when she is lying still, without putting up a fight. And it can't be her, when she settles for just anything. The Candy that I knew and grew up with, has moved on. I know to a better place, where she is happier. And just because she is not next to me doesn't mean she is not there. In fact, she is more than just closer now. She is within me. So Lord, here on earth, I carried out your job, and I hope I did it well, but now that she is back to you, it's your job again to take care of her as your special child. Until of course I come to resume my position. I love you Candy.