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| Beloved Bennie |
Hard to believe this little fella lived to be 101.5 in doggie years (14.5 in human years). Wow, SO MUCH LOVE! And so many darling sweet memories!
This is Benjamin Berghage, also known as Ben, Bennie, Bennifred, Buns, Bunny, Little Man, Tinyboy, Cuddlepuff, Hugmuffin, My Love, Sweet Boy, Chippyhunter (he never caught one but loved to stand guard for hours at the entrances to their homes and along their backyard highways), Spinnyboy, Trotter, The Best Boy in the World Right Next to His Brothers, and many more endearments.
I think he had a vocabulary of about 200 words and I swear he could understand whole conversations. Not only "our" conversations: "Is it time to flirt for your supper? You flirt so GOOD! I could feed you all DAY!" but also the puppy conversations that echo throughout the neighborhood when anything's going on, such as the mail peeps making their rounds, or storms coming, or puppysuppertime, or other pups walking by and leaving their calling cards out front. You could set your watch by him, he ALWAYS knew when it was "3 in the morning bark at the moon time, and maybe I can wake all the neighbors, oh, I'm supposed to potty and come in quick? No way. Just a few more sniffs needed time," "wake up Pop way too early time with the first birdsong," 4 p.m. and just an hour until puppysuppertime so time to flirt, 8:30, 9:30, and 10:30 (outtie o'clock times again), plus "Bigbed Time" at around 11 when he and his brother get snacks after they come back in and get ready for nighttime sleeps with Pops (Bennie) or in the studio with me (Lil Bear).
One of his many favorite things to do was watch the "Bennievision," which streams all the neighborhood happenings outside the big picture window right behind the couch. He and his brother, Lil Bear, loved to prop themselves across the back of the couch and watch for hours or snooze in the sunbeams coming in.
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One of Bennie's fave spots by the Bennievision window.
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| Falling in LOVE! |
I fell in love with him at Steve's pet store years ago when we still had pet stores with pups and kitties and rabbits and birds and fish and turtles and gerbils and guinea pigs and all the lovelies awaiting their forever homes. I'd stopped by after work, which was something I loved to do whenever I was in the area just for the joy of visiting with the animals. THERE he was, and I went into the puppy area and played with him for quite a while. I found it just so hard to leave him, but I hotfooted it home and told my husband, "I KNOW what I want for my birthday!" Then said, "Come with me!" So we hopped in the car and went back to the pet store, and there was some WOMAN walking around with a Yorkie in her arms, well I was about ready to grab him and run, but I realized THAT wasn't Bennie, it was his SISTER! So I dragged my hubby to the puppy visiting room, where I picked up Bennie and batted my eyelashes at my husband. He put his hands in the pockets of his jacket, knowing that if he touched this dog it would be all over. I pulled his hands out and plopped Bennie right into them, and YUP! It was all over. Bennie gave Rob a tiny, polite little kiss on his face and cuddled right in. Happy Birthday Jen!! WOOT! Heck of a birthday, he was a purebred Yorkie, father named Rambo (hence Bennie's fairly good adult weight of about 16 lbs) and mother named Buttercup. I think he took after his mother, he was such a sweetie.
But here's the thing.
When we brought Bennie home, WHO did he fall in love with and follow around and play with and snuggle with? Yep, it was ROB.
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| Who's dog is this? ROB'S! |
So this lasted for a couple of years, and one day I decided to pop into the pet store again for fun, and LOOK WHAT I FOUND! Or should I say, LOOK WHAT FOUND ME!
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| Uh oh! |
When I was sitting on the floor in the puppy visiting room this little fur ball came up to me and climbed right into my lap, licked the inside of my elbow for a few minutes, then settled in for a nap. Oh GOSH! I fell in LOVE AGAIN! (When he grew up my sister's granddaughter named him Lickiedog as this habit of grooming people he loves has stuck fast.)
So I hotfooted it home and put a total head trip on my hubby, saying how even though Bennie was my birthday present, he didn't bond with me, he bonded with ROB, so perhaps we should pop by that pet store again just for fun. MUHAhahahahaha.... I had a plan. So when we got there I made sure Rob didn't put his hands in his pockets and I batted my eyelashes at him again, real hard, and I said how I just didn't think I could leave this little puffball behind, and GUESS WHAT HAPPENED! Bennie got a BROTHER!
So we had Benjamin and Lil Bear together for ALL THESE YEARS and they loved to walk shoulder to shoulder all around the neighborhoods in the evenings with us, and they wrestled like brothers before puppysuppertime, and they shared the beeeautiful backyard comfortably, (Bennie's the city boy and always preferred the patio, where Lil Bear is my nature boy and rambles over every square inch of the gnarly grassy/woodsy areas) and one time when they got out the front door they took off for an unsupervised downtown adventure that made me CRAZY with worry, but they stayed shoulder to shoulder then too, and some wonderful Penn State students picked them both up and brought them home to us, THANK GOODNESS. I gave the pup rescuers my brand new perfectly unwrinkled $50 dollar bill I'd just gotten for birthday money, I was sooooo grateful.
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Shoulder to shoulder funtimes!
Helping Rob with the Christmas tree. |
So they've had many years together and now it's time for Bennie's next chapter, a true adventure indeed. He gets to cross the Rainbow Bridge and get a total reboot on his aging little body. He has physical challenges that he can't recover from, and it's clear that he's in too much pain now. So we are loving him extra (if that's possible) this weekend and Monday is his Return to True Home Cross the Rainbow Bridge Day. I'm so glad he will no longer be in pain. We've had him on meds and special stuff for about a year, but he is fast declining now.
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| Good Boy Ben! Good job! |
Of course I've prayed that things would happen naturally, alas to no avail. And I've had conversations with him letting him know it's okay to go. He sleeps most of the time, so he's been halfway there for quite some months. When one of his tumors started bleeding rather profusely yesterday, we agreed that it's the sign I was asking for to know when is the right time to give him some help. So Rob put a soft sock on the foot Bennie was scratching with and wrapped it with some medical tape, and so far it's working so Bennie can at least sleep and enjoy a few of his favorite things, such as lots of cuddles, extra snacks, and the good sniffs in the beeeautiful backyard. We washed the tender spot but couldn't dress it or wrap with bandages, so we're glad the soft sock is working.
THANK YOU Ben, for all the LOVE, and may you feel ours forever and ever, as we do yours. See you on the other side, Buns, and that will be excellent indeed XOXO
Yes, with love, we can do hard things. And we've got LOTS of friends in Heaven.
Wishing you all many blessings and much love.
Namaste,
~Jen
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