"Best Friend" was never enough to describe Yasmine. Years ago I broke my back and was unable to walk for months, while I lay immobilized I thought of everything I never did, but would if I walked again. Two weeks after I put my cane down I sold everything I had and bought a plane ticket to Australia with no intention of ever coming home... little did I know I would meet the girl that would change my life forever. Yasmine had been a show dog, very pristine and proper, no one had taught her how to be a dog yet, her owner gave her to me because she wouldn't produce milk anymore so she was of no use to a breeder. Three weeks after I brought her home, she adopted a litter of 7 kittens left in a shed after the mother had been hit by a car, by morning she had brought herself to milk and nursed each one till they were fully weaned.
When I made plans to come back to the U.S. Yasmine was suppose to fly with me but an error on the travel agent's part threw a wrench in the works. She couldn't fly on the domestic flights once she reached the U.S. because of heat restrictions, so I had to board her until she could fly. A month went by and I was sick without my little soul mate, so I called the kennels and told them to get her ready. I made arrangements, flew from Kansas City to Chicago and then on to L.A., rushed off my flight to the car rental, got a car and met the agent who cleared her through customs at a restaurant outside the airport, the reunion was enough to make even the coldest of hearts cry. We stayed at a hotel that night and then played in the city and on the beach the next day, then drove 24 hours home. While driving through a rainstorm in the desert, the clouds broke and there on the other side of the highway was the end of a rainbow, cars were driving right through it, I looked at Yasmine thinking she was more than I would ever hope to find, my little treasure.
Through the years we traveled and moved all the way across the U.S. and back. When circumstances permitted she went to work with me, I wouldn't go anywhere she couldn't go with me. I never really minded that she stole all the covers in the middle of the night while we spooned, I never minded when I would get up for a glass of water only to return and find my sandwich gone and Yasmine surprisingly was in the same exact spot she was in when I left the room looking sound asleep. She occasionally shared coffee with me without my knowledge, and she would often turn my freshly made bed into a nest of pillows and blankets, couldn't blame her for wanting to be comfortable. She was a gentle loving soul that nurtured so many other animals and people that crossed our paths throughout our years together. While her love was unconditional, that didn't mean she wouldn't still get displeased and make an effort to let me know. She would grumble and sigh at me with her discontent at times, like when there were too many people at the house and they had taken all the comfy seats. Yasmine from the day I got her till the day I lost her would stare at me with such an intense gaze, it was pure love, the love you can only get from a canine companion. She loved me better than any person ever has or could. Through all my travels from country to country and state to state, friends and family were always amazed at how I could take off all alone without knowing a soul and move to some strange new place.... but I wasn't alone. Had it not been for the wonderful companionship I had with Yasmine I would not have had the courage to venture so far for so long all on my own, she was there watching over me... protecting me... the only thing deeper than my sadness for the loss of my Yasmine, is the love I have for her and always will. Goodbye my sweet girl, we'll meet again...
Your Loyal Companion,
Jen
