Champ

As I grew up, from just 3 months old a set of paw prints were always right next to me. Guiding me throughout the toddler stages and being my partner in crime. Letting me poke, hug, and roll on. His name was Champ. Some people might have looked at him just as a dog but to me he was my best friend. A best friend that didn't care what your hair looked like, or what the tags say on your clothes, how big your house or how much you have. All he cared about was that I loved him and he would always love me back. That I would come to him first to tell him a share of secrets that only my heart knew, or would cry on his soft blond fur when I needed to, and I could whisper into his ear even when he was asleep because he would always be listening. He was more than a best friend, he was an angel without wings.

It was a cold October day, I was watching my brother throw the baseball back and forth. Hitting and retrieving it. I was only five sitting with Champ playing with colorful leaves which, at the time, I thought were the most coolest thing ever. We lived by the woods and our town had a lot of deer. Deer in the roads, deer in our backyard, deer everywhere.

So, all of a sudden a baby deer comes running at me and before I have time to react, Champ steps in front of me and protects me. Not caring if he hurts himself because I would be safe. The baby deer ran away for its mother in the woods. This marked the beginning of something in my life that at the time I couldn't even begin to comprehend. But now I know what it changed, it made Champ even more like an angel without a pair of wings than before. He was best friend who I would be lost without.

As time went by, I wanted my own dog. Not that I didn't love Champ, but he was my brother's dog. I wanted my own dog, to call my own. So, that's when I welcomed another best friend, Lucy. So, now it wasn't only Champ, it was Champ and Lucy. But Champ, he was different than Lucy. He looked at me different, looked at things different. And I always wondered what went through his head when we bought our first horse or finally bought another dog 6 years later for my sister who named her dog, Roxy.

And the day that haunts me most is November 22nd, 2007. I was in 6th grade and I was in the kitchen doing my homework. Champ went to the vets a week ago because he was havin trouble walking. He couldn't move his back legs and at night he would stay up and cry. My mom called and my sister in and told us. That Champ was gone. He finally was an angel with wings.

That's when I thought everything was going to shatter. That Champ really isn't here. That I would never get to feel his soft fur again. Or look into his deep brown eyes. That were once filled with life and youth now filled with nothing but complete darkness. I cried a little bit but stopped.

When it was time to go to sleep, I asked myself and God out loud why? Why did God have to take away something that we loved? Why couldn't anything ever good last? Why did we always have to let go, why couldn't we just hold on? Only God knows, only God knows. Why Champ isn't here watching me type this on my computer. Why he can't take walks with me and Lucy in the woods like we used to. Snuggle up to me in the garage when my friends ignored me yet another. 

But I know one thing for sure. That Champ was my best friend. A best friend that didn't care if I was rich or poor just cared if I came everyday to the back door to greet him after school. Sit and whisper stories into his ear as he drifted off to sleep. Took him for long walks, just me and him to catch up on things. To sit together and never be apart.

Champ wrote a story now it's your turn to read it. Champ left a trail, a story, a story of Champ. My one and only Champ, the angel without wings finally got them.

-JustAnotherGirl