By Robert Cunningham, AngelsWin.com Columnist -
I’m going to preface this article by apologizing for being selfish. I lost someone very important to me and it may not be important for you. Please bear with me, I’ll try to keep it brief but 14 years can’t be encapsulated in just a couple of sentences and words.
It’s December 2001 and I’m at work and I get a call from my wife, Firozeh, from her place of work: “Robert, Robert, there’s a dog here that needs a home! Can we adopt him?!?!?!?!”
After a short discussion I drove over and walked into the store. My wife opens up the door to the break room and she calls to a figure outside of my view: “Come here!”
Seconds later 16 lbs. of black and white Shih-Tzu walks up to her. My wife points to me and says: “There’s your new daddy!” He looked at me, looked back at her and nodded his head.
Who knew at that moment that 14 years of pure love and joy would enter our lives and change us forever?
The apartment we had at the time didn’t accept pets so we did our best to keep him hidden. We quickly discovered from his previous family, who was unable to keep him, that his name was “Blackie”.
We tried containing him in the kitchen to avoid potential pet stains on the floor but Blackie was a really smart cookie and after 2 days we woke up and found him laying on our couch in the living room.
Before we knew it he was in our bed and deep in our hearts. He ate like a pig and had the metabolism of an Olympic athlete.
Blackie loved to go for walks and we were happy because he provided companionship for my mother-in-law and father-in-law when they stayed with us and we had to go to work.
He was a perfect little gentleman and very well-mannered. Blackie loved to chase his toys and he loved to battle spider hand:
Here’s a short sample of pictures over the years. Although they obviously don’t fully capture the experience you can see the love that we shared:
Hanging with the Grand Parents:
Hanging Out with Mommy:
Enjoying a D-ahh-licious Dinner with His Parents:
Studying Physics with Daddy:
A Crowning Achievement for Me, My Queen and My Little Prince:
Blackie died from complications from a cancerous cyst on Tuesday, May 19th, 2015. He died in his mommy’s arms while she sang a song to him.
To help honor Blackie’s memory I’d ask each of you to spend some time today with someone you love and care about.
Whether it’s your children, husband/wife, parents, girlfriend/boyfriend, or even just a friend, call them up, send them an e-mail, IM, or text, or, even better yet, watch the Angels play tonight.
Just spend some time with them and cherish it.
Tuesday evening I lost my son and the Angels won that night.
And I’m not just talking about the team. God called up his best prospect he’s ever going to get to join his Angels.
RIP Son, your Mommy and I love you and we can’t wait to see your beautiful, shining face, again, when our time is up.