I am not a fan of small dogs. Very often the size of the body is directly related to the size of the brain. This guy was proof that I was wrong. Smart little dude. Loving to the point of distraction. He was a Jack Russell, so a ball of energy. His most annoying (?!) trait was that he'd lick you when he was nervous. I mean, how annoying can that be? LOL
He would look at you and cock his head to one side or another if you talked to him. The amount of sounds he could vocalize were close to a cat's range...lots more than any dog I've been around before.
Yesterday, as we were approaching Chesapeake Bay, we started having dolphins around the boat. Wow, was this the coolest thing Murphy had ever seen in his life. He was up one side and down the other. Standing on the sides, back onto the bumpers in the stern. Up and down and back and forth and whining. He was leashed (in his harness) to one of the stanchions... we hadn't put him in his life jacket, mainly because we weren't letting him go up to the bow by himself anymore, since we'd had a rough time at sea for a week (more on that later). I spent about a half hour with him, trying to get him to calm a bit, convincing him that he couldn't go swim with the dolphins. I thought I'd settled him down some, so I stepped away, came down below to change clothes. The next thing I hear is Jamie yelling "Murphy's gone, Murphy's gone!" I had to ask him to repeat it, since I just couldn't believe what I was hearing. Sure enough though... he was gone. His leash and harness were in the water, no Murphy to be found. We searched for an hour. A 15 pound dog in three foot seas really didn't stand a chance, but we had to try. It was quite simply awful. I've only been here three weeks, but that's been enough for me to fall completely in love with him. He's left a huge hole in my heart, he really has.
The dolphins escorted us all the way to our final turn. It really was as if they knew we'd lost him and they were here to comfort us. To see the eyes of a dolphin as it leaps and swims through the water is one of the most amazing things I've ever seen in my life. I am truly blessed to have had the opportunity, but immensely sad that it came at the expense of a life that I'd grown to love.
RIP Murphy, my friend. You were indeed one of a kind.
No comments:
Post a Comment