Dedicated to Dublin

Its been 5 months ago today since my big brother Dublin crossed over to Rainbow Bridge & boy do I miss him like crazy. He was the one that people always stopped & asked, "Do you have a saddle for that thing?!!" He was the attention getter - people always stopping us and asking what kind of dog he was & how much he weighed....I don't blame them- he was gigantic & very attractive - but, I would rather have the brains any 'ole day...which I clearly have. He was bigger & had quite the intimidation factor...but my mom always joked that if our house would have ever been broken into, Dublin would have brought the intruder a stuffed animal & and told the bad guy to just take whatever he wanted & leave his toys...Luckily, I was always there as backup. As Dublin's favorite vet stated, "He's devastatingly handsome..." As the picture above is sheer proof.
Here are some flowers that we received after he went to Rainbow Bridge...My mom dried them & buried them in the yard under a special spot Dublin always liked to relax.
Here Dublin is playing in the leaves...He loved living in MN with all the changes in the season - except the summer one..that one is horrible. But fall, winter & spring...especially winter - that was his favorite. Dublin was named after my mom's favorite city in the world, Dublin, Ireland & fittingly so, as he was adopted on March 17, 2000.
Dublin was always (well, most of the time) willing to share his toys with me. My mom always found stuffed animals that were "our" size..meaning the super jumbo size you always want to win at the fair or carnival when you go...that's "our" size!
Here we are at Como Lake in beautiful St. Paul, MN. We lived near the lake & walked it at least a couple times a day & made many four-legged & two-legged friends. My mom used to call him Sponge Dub Lead Pants (like Sponge-Bob) because getting Dublin to walk was like pulling a mule. But if a cute blonde girl was running past us on the trail, he would speed up and follow her. A real ladies man!

Ah - the wonderful beaches of San Deigo. Dublin was always more of a beach nut that I ever was. I like water that is puddle deep. Dublin loved to crash into the waves & surf. He loved the water & would always seem to make a big poopie in the water...much to my mom & dad's horror. The bigger horror was watching the waves bring it back in! Dublin was quite proud of himself when this happened.
Our mom & pop always called us "two peas in a pod" and that we were. I was his shadow - whether he liked it or not. I always wanted to be near him & would follow him where ever he went - unless of course it was to the deep part of the ocean... I learned many bad habits from Dublin, like wiping my face on the carpet & couches after I ate & ripping apart stuffed animals & kicking my feet into the lawn after I pee-peed.
Even though I annoyed Dublin sometimes, I know he loved me. Our favorite games to play were bitey-face craziness & all out knock 'em down wrassin'. Even though he had a good 25 pounds on me, I usually could throw him down...ok, not often...but it happened once or twice. We never wanted to be seperated and rarely were...except when we somehow got on the other side of the fence from eachother...sheer torture!

Here we are accidently sharing the same bed at night time. Dublin layed down first cuz the blue one was his bed & I decided I wanted to share the bed with him. I think he eventually kicked me & I went on my red bed. My mom wants to say that this situation only happened once & she was very happy to capture it on film.
This is the last pic of us together a couple of days before he went to Rainbow Bridge. You can see the shaved areas on his right shoulder from a bone marrow biopsy & the areas on his arm from needles & stuff. He was pretty tired towards the end, but still wanted to play when he had a bit of energy. He had a kidney disease that he managed quite well, but it was an auto-immune disease that took over - he wasn't making red or white blood cells or platelets anymore. Someday my mom will post the story of Dublin & our adoption tales on my blog...and how he took so many pills I'm quite suprised he didn't go to rehab, but not today....she is weepy & just wants to rest. Losing something you love so much is physically & emotionally exhausting she says...even five months later....

I wish you all could have known my big brother. He was an absolute goofball & the master of trickery. I miss him so.

Love & Licks,

Randi

If tears could build a stairway, and memories a lane,

I'd walk right up to heaven and bring you home again.

-author unknown-