Holidays are for Remembering Our Loved Ones, Mine is a Dog
By Carter Nielson
The Holiday season is one that invites a lot of memories back into our conscious thinking. These times during Thanksgiving and Christmas are full to the brim with emotionally charged experiences, whether they are positive or negative. I have been lucky enough to not have experienced any traumatic holiday experiences like seen in the movies, but one year I think my life could have been the script for a dog movie much like Marley and Me. Every year for the last few years, my thoughts always tend to drift toward my old companion Kal.
Back in 2018, I was ROUGHING it. I was suffering with newly diagnosed mental illnesses, figuring out how to make life seem worth it, while also trying to live that life. My parents pretty quickly picked up on my mental state and figured getting me a buddy wouldn’t be the worst idea.
For Christmas, I flew up to Portland, Oregon to pick up my new puppy. We actually picked up 3 puppies from the same litter. My dad and older brother decided to each get a dog too and train them for hunting purposes. They were black labs, and came with every ounce of cuteness that you see in Google images and Instagram posts. I thought I would train Kal for hunting too, but he had other plans. His plans were to just be my best friend, and the most loyal companion I could ever ask for. When I tried to teach him to retrieve, he thought of it more as a fun game of fetch and wrestling than a structured athletic routine. After a while, I just threw in the towel and realized he was perfect the way he was.
On my worst days following that Christmas, Kal was all smiles and tail wags. On my best days… Well, he was all smiles and tail wags. After a few months of being buds, he could pick up when my moods dipped into depression and he would just waddle over to me and place his head in my lap to make sure I felt his love. This dog really saved my life; he made me feel loved and not alone when all I felt was darkness, and I will always love him for it.
Unfortunately, not all stories end happily. I had to have a friend take care of Kal for a while when I went away to college. While I was away, Kal was hit by a semi-truck and didn’t make it. I kind of feel as if Kal was my guardian angel, and boy did he live up to his calling in his short years here. I miss him dearly, and think about him all the time. I still have his little red puppy collar hanging up on my rear view mirror in my car, to always keep him close. So I guess the moral of the story is to enjoy your Holiday memories, because whether they be blissful, depressing, or a little bittersweet like mine, they are part of our lives and should be cherished.
