A foreshadowing of grief?

“I can’t believe we have a dog!” David repeated himself over and over into the evening.

Yeah, that made two of us.

However, that pup turned out to be the sweetest thing in the world. So sweet, we called her Sweetie. I took her outside on my porch without a leash, and she obediently sat there. We snapped tons of pictures and later invited David’s cousins to come meet her. Even I fell completely in love with that little dog.

When I called Juan David and Viviana three days later, I told them about our newest addition to the family.

“What? You got a dog? What color is she? Is she big or small? Can I have her?” Viviana sounded like she might jump through the phone with so much excitement!

Once again, I had to restrain myself from saying, “It’s your puppy, Sweetheart.”

Much to our dismay our bliss did not last long. We entered into a season of grief a few days later. Our pup fell ill and passed away right before our eyes. Apparently she’d been exposed to parvo, a deadly puppy disease, shortly before we got her. We tried to nurse her back to health via the vet’s instructions, but the disease took her fast.

From one Sunday to the next, we traveled from the top of the mountain to a valley of despair. We spent six short days loving our precious little puppy, and now we grieved losing her.

 David took it hard. “Why did she have to die?”

I never helped him grieve before, and it broke my heart to see him hurt so badly. Then when I called Viviana a few days later and told her, she burst into tears and cried through our entire conversation. I never heard her cry before, and it, too, broke my heart. I wanted to kick myself for making such an impulsive purchase.