My last childhood dog, Vader Puppy, passed away this week. At the ripe old age of 15, which is crazy good for a Labrador. I’m glad for him. I don’t usually talk about stuff like this, but I wanted to briefly commemorate the life of a very good boy.
My family somehow got this new dog, a puppy of a few months, but I don’t know how many months, in summer of 2008, when I was starting 8th grade. I was too focused on my teenage histrionics to really remember the story now. But my friend Jesse set us up with this tiny little dog, and we actually had him for a week before Jesse named him for us: Vader. Black fur, and I was super obsessed with Star Wars at the time, so Vader it somehow became. Vader Puppy, since he was really little.
For some reason, we kept calling him puppy all the way to old age. It just kind of stuck.
He was always really weirdly well-behaved, a little bit of a scaredy-cat. Hated getting his feet wet for no known reason. Loved hot dogs. We didn’t know his actual birthday, so we just always celebrated it on May 4th, for obvious reasons. Sadly they never made any lightsaber-themed bones to give him as a present.
When I went to Japan in December 2018, I knew there was a good chance I’d be saying goodbye for the last time to at least one person. That was when I planned to visit America in Summer 2020, when my family planned to visit me in 2021. But with over four years having passed already, and at least a year before I even have a chance to go back again… Well, that’s how life has been.
I wish I had gotten to see Vader Puppy one last time, or to be there for my Dad who had to deal with it by himself. But instead of being miserable about it, I just want to be happy that Vader Puppy got to live a long and happy and treat-filled life.
Vader Puppy (and 3 of my other pets) will live on for time immemorial, at least, by being featured in Barty Anderson 4. He is, in fact, the Crystal Chubacabra. And that’s an honor nobody else will ever have.
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I have a lot of other blogs about my life, although I usually don’t share things this personal. Feel free to read them if you have a chance.
