perdurabo

As some of you know I lost my cat last month.
I have now lost my dog too. He died around 0200 am Friday morning.
I shook my fist at the heavens and declared when my cat died during Pisces "if I lose my dog during Pisces too, I will commit suicide" so god decided to spare me until Aries. (note: he had a small seizure even while on the anti seizure medication in the same week that my cat died)

Oddly enough he was born and acquired by me during the first gulf war, and the universe reclaimed him on the second such gulf war.
Another odd fact is that I got stopped for speeding on my way to work that night and for the first time ever (given my obvious dislike for cops and frequent bad luck with them), I was not issued a ticket,
but only a verbal warning and a genuine concern for my safety and "well being."

All of this in the midst of a plan to leave straight from work Friday morning (as I am on the Night Shift) to Los Angeles for an Art Opening and well deserved weekend with friends. Now I will go, instead, to bury my long time friend and mascot of the 129th Evacuation Hospital, Corporal O.D. Storm. He was a true and loyal friend, always full of enthusiasm and always excited to see you. So excited was he, that his whole back end would swing back and forth when he greeted just about anyone (except the mailman), hence the nickname "Swingbutt."

I enjoyed Storm for many reasons, not the least of which was his gullibility. I could sit in the couch at my Grandparents house (where O.D. has lived for the past several years, and I am sure he thought of it as his home) and just call out "here kitty kitty" and watch him run from door to door barking at my fabricated cat. He played with the vigor of a puppy up until his very last day. I stopped in and saw him 18 hours before he died and he was full of his usual excitement, kissing me (yes, on the lips) repeatedly as he often likes to, smiling the whole while. Then he sat at my feet, actually on my feet, something he had a habit of doing.

Many people had the privilege of seeing him "SMILE" this dog could actually smile, his lips would get all puckered up when he was very excited and usually he only smiled when he was swinging his butt and dancing around the doorway to greet any of the many people who "came to see him" at his house.

I remember when he was a puppy; he fit into the palm of my hand.
He was given to me by a driver from Sheik Al Maaktumns Royal Bodyguard at their training compound right outside Dubai in the United Arab
Emirates. He was covered in fleas and had dried cement stuck to his hind end (probably why the driver was so eager to give the pup to me when I admired him). It took hours to cut all the cement off
and de-flea him. As he grew he would run around the compound collecting milk and treats from many of the soldiers from my unit. He spent every night sleeping in the foot of my sleeping bag (some might
argue that this contributed to his peculiar ness), he would only come out to relieve himself or steal my friend Steve's shower shoes and bury them in the desert sand, but that is a whole different story). Since the gulf war offered a minimum of 12 hour shifts (for
me in the Dubai Hospitals E.R.), raising him was a concerted group effort. Another bit of luck for him was that the U.A.E. is the only country in the Middle East with vaccination standards equivalent to those of the U.S.A. (this is how he was able to escape a quarantine period).
In fact we were not sure that we were gonna be able to bring home our (at the time; unofficial) mascot. These were some of the politics in deciding his name. O.D. (Operation Desert) Storm. Some of us romantics thought we could make an emotional plea to Stormin Norman (Norman Schwartzkopf. sp) if "they" tried to deny us the ability to bring O.D. home.

Anyway, writing this obituary is sort of therapy for me, I hope you will all join me in remembering my best dog ever, O.D. (swingbutt) Storm.