Missing my Sony

I hated dogs. I can still recall our neighborhood dog chasing me around our colony back in India. I was only 10. Oh man, I cried hysterically that night. My mom couldn't calm me down. I then developed this phobia for DOGS (big surprise!!!) If I see a dog being walked by its owner on the same path I am walking on, I would cross the road and walk the opposite direction. Let a dog near me... NO WAY!!!!

But all this changed when my dad and brother brought Sony home! I was on the couch for weeks. I would not let that puppy near me. I mean she peed and pooped everywhere. Barked loudly. Chewed on everything and I was mostly scared that it would ... well ... chew me. Uhh I hated her.

I don't know when the transition happened. May be it happened when I started to care for her instead of loathing her. Maybe it was the first pat. Maybe it was her excitement to be around me. Maybe it happened when she finally managed to jump on the sofa and to sit next to me. Maybe it was her eyes! Maybe it happened when she sprained her ankle and was in a cast hopping around the house. Maybe it was when she started to behave. I don't know when it happened but it happened.

I started to accept her as a living being that might not bite me. And then I started to accept that I might play with her, and then maybe hug her and then love her like family. She is my Sony-gadu. She changed my life. She brought joy back to my life. Her simple happiness was breath taking. Her personality, her persistence to get the ball from under the sofa and her nagging us to feed her earlier than her eating time all got to me. Her joy whenever we got home from an outing. Her whining when we left the home. Her brattiness when she forgets that she is trained and pees in the house. The revelation came that I cared for this creature/beast was when she got hurt and had to be in a cast. She was so tiny, my little puppy Sony, in so much pain, yet she was ready to please and play. Her anxiety at the vets and how she clung to me and my brother as if she trusted us over the vet was a revelation. She made me realize that life exists in different forms. Feelings, pain, love etc can be left by other animals.

I am missing my Sony today. I come home to my apartment here in Eagan and no one runs to me all excited to just see me!