Samson

One reason for my absence from these pages is my dog, Samson.  In the end of July 2011, at a local Humane Society, I found this trainwreck of a beagle.  His tongue always hung out of his mouth because he didn't have a singe tooth to hold it in with.  One of his ears was mangled from being chewed on and he had a gigantic hernia on his butt cheek.  The thing was, his teeth didn't fall out.  They were all pulled out.  He as been used to teach little puppies how to dog fight.  He was made defensless and left to die.

He didn't, though.  Somehow that beagle got loose and found his way to the shelter.  He had been there for awhile when we found him.  It took me no time decide that old boy couldn't die in a shelter and we took him home immediately. 

There's a million small stories that describe what took him from being a human-shy dog to the beagle that often slept with his head on the pillow next to me - every one a classic.  But those days are over.  As I sit here in Mumbai, India for work, my girlfriend took Samson in for emergency surgery for a bleeding turmor.  He fought through the surgery, but gave in to heart fauilure in the end.

Samson, it's the wonderful animals like you that help make our human lives a little more bearable.  Once we got you away from your old life, everyone that ever met you loved you, loved to pet you, laugh at your tongue, and go "awwww" when they saw your old bright eyes.  I'm not sure if people deserve a heaven, but I know you do, my friend.  I'll never forget you.