Kayleigh

Christopher and Kayleigh

Around the time my Samoyed Kayleigh was 11 years old, we were separated from each other. I still got to spend time with her each day but she couldn't live with me. This meant that I couldn't be woken up by her hot breath on my face, her way of telling me she had to go out. I couldn't lie in bed and listen for the jingling of the tags on her collar as she entered the room, circled and finally settled down for the night on the floor next to my bed. Kayleigh came into my life as a 3-month-old ball of white fur and now after 11 years of constant companionship, we were like 2 ships passing each other coming into and out of port. A few years earlier a divorce and other financial setbacks had caused me to have to move into my sister's house with her and my mother. Kayleigh had blended seamlessly into a household with a feisty cat and a playful Siberian Husky. When I finally had the money to return to life on my own I rented a mobile home a few blocks up the road. However, the landlords had had trouble with previous tenants having dogs so they wouldn't let Kayleigh live with me. I was allowed to bring her up to visit each day but she had to remain living with my sister and mother. I knew Kayleigh was well taken care of but I missed her. At times, she didn't even feel like my dog anymore. I didn't feed her, I didn't take her out in the morning or at night, and I listened to stories about her that weren't mine. A few years went by this way and then something happened that changed my perception. My grandma, my mom's mom, passed away. It was unbelievably hard on my mother. She told me in the weeks after that it was hard for her to even get out bed in the morning knowing her mother was gone. But then she said this: "The thing that makes me get up is that sweet Kayleigh. When I walk to the top of the steps there she lays at the foot of the staircase, waiting for me. She always looks up and the tail starts to wag. Then she'll stand up and stretch, waiting for slow old me to get downstairs. Once I'm down I feed her and let he out into the yard. If I didn't know that she needed me I probably wouldn't bother getting up most days." Hearing this put me at peace with the situation and I saw my friendly, independent and stubborn Samoyed in a different light. As a school teacher, my sister was up early taking care of her own dog, but Kayleigh waited for my mom to get up to get fed and go out. Somehow she knew that while I missed her every day, my mother needed her.