Goodbye

From: Nicole (supercolie@hotmail.com)
Story type: Ghost
Location: Dartmouth ,N.S. Canada
Source: Form Submission

My dog Patches was probably what I would consider to be one of the the best friends I ever had. I had him from the time I was 8yrs old.There was a time or two when I had been very ill and had to be in the hospital. When I would come home he would be so excited to see me all I wanted was to come home and spend time with Patches. So when he got older and began to have health problems I didn't know how to deal with the idea of ever losing him. I was around 19 and had been spending more and more time away from home, with my friends or my boyfriend. I rarely came home even though I knew my parents had suggested it was time to put Patches to sleep.

I had come home from a friends house and was getting off he bus when I saw my parents driving down the road. They had my dog in the car. I got them to stop and I opened the backseat door to be greeted by a happy wagging tail I wanted to pretend like he was just going for a car ride.I hugged him and patted his ears and closed the car door. I 'thought' I'd never see him again.

A couple of months had passed an it had really hit me hard that he was gone.I had alot of guilt for not spending more time with him before he was gone and I never felt like I had a chance to really say goodbye.

But then one night I woke up , sat straight up in my bed {the light was on} and there he was, looking straight at me. Being surprised and still half asleep I just stared back at him sitting there on the end of my bed. He obviously didn't speak but he somehow conveyed to me that he was ok and that I didn't need to feel bad anymore. I simply replied "ok" and went back to sleep.

The next morning I woke up and one of my smaller stuffed panda bears was at the foot of my bed {this was alot smaller than my dog}. I think he just came to say goodbye.