The Coolest Dude I Ever Met

I’ve waited a few days to write about this, assuming it would be easier to write.  I was wrong.  Just like I was wrong when I anticipated how hard ‘that day’ would be.  It was much, much harder than I could have ever imagined.

I was never much of a ‘small dog’ guy.  Heel nippers paraded around in handbags, I thought.

And then I met Oscar Meyer.   And he taught me quite a bit.

You may find it weird that a dog could have such an impact on a life…unless you have one of your own, especially if you’ve lost one of your own, then it makes perfect sense.

Oscar was…a handful.  He was epileptic, had food allergies, a herniated disc in his long wiener dog back and thyroid issues (I’m sure I’m missing a few).  He cost us a small fortune, but the return on investment was so worth it.  We lost Oscar to liver cancer last week after 12 great years.

He was my little buddy.  He didn’t care when I was wound up about business stuff…he just wanted to eat and hang out.  He didn’t care who won the game…he just wanted eat and sit on my lap.  He didn’t care if the boat ever left the docks or the mooring ball…he was happy just hanging, smelling the smells and watching the ducks.  He didn’t care if you were in a hurry…he wasn’t.  Ever.  He didn’t care how big of a dog you were…we was bigger.  So he thought.  He didn’t care if that airplane was thousands of feet in the in the air…he was going to let it know who was boss.  And he didn’t care if the other dogs were busy playing reindeer games…he was way too cool to get involved with any of that.

Oscar had a personality so much bigger than his body.  He was James Dean cool with a Fred Couples swagger (you ever see Freddie Couples strolling down a golf course, and you’ll know what I mean).

In many ways, Oscar was exactly what I preach with Snoloha.  Just slow the hell down.  Relax.  Eat.  Enjoy.  Be yourself and don’t give one single thought to what other’s think.  Who the hell cares anyway.

Wag more.  Bark less.  And love.

My good buddy Larry beautifully put it in a way only Larry could, “Oscar really didn’t care that he was a dog.  He was a dude first.  As a “being” born into this Universe, he just happened to be born in a “dog suit” instead of a “human suit”, but that didn’t matter to him.  He was a dude, and when I take away the concept of “man” or “dog” and just look at him as a  “being” regardless of what “suit” he was born into….he was the coolest dude I ever met.”  And that, he was.

You’re a good boy, Oscie.