Tobby

January 24, 2001 (my 16th birthday)

Our family brought Tobby home in February of 1997. The family we got her from couldn't keep her and we agreed to take her for a weekend to see if our family liked her. Being only a few months old at the time, she was very rambunctious and like all puppies, enjoyed to put things in her mouth. Fingers, hands, toes and other associated body parts were no exception. Needless to say, I was afraid of her. My mom tried repeatedly to contact the family to say we just couldn't keep her, but they never answered our phone calls, or returned our messages. We were stuck with her.

Being the hyperactive puppy that she was, Tobby was always eager to play or go for a run. Since my brother, Jason, was significantly more active than I was, he and Tobby bonded early. The two would wrestle in the house and go for sprints up and down the block. They quickly became best friends.

In the summer of 1997 Jason graduated high school and began to work full time. By the fall of that same year, he had begun attending Tacoma Community College. Between work and school, he was now spending most of his days away from home.


As Tobby started to grow out of her "puppy phase" she began to calm down. In 2002 Jason decided to attend Central Washington University in Ellensburg, leaving Tobby with just my parents and me. Because school was out of the summer and Jason spent most of his time in Ellensburg, Tobby and I would spend all day together. As Jason came home from school less and less and Tobby and I spent more and more time together, our bond grew stronger.


Since then, Tobby and I have been almost inseparable. Tobby and I have shared lots of experiences. She's always been there for me when I cried over boys, money, school, friends or almost anything else you can think of. She is my favorite person (yes, person) to talk to because she always listens, never gets mad at anything I say, always keeps my secrets and is there at anytime of the day (or night) that I need her.

About two years ago, I underwent 3 separate foot surgeries, each of which kept me in bed for weeks at a time. During the times I was practically bed ridden, Tobby would lay with me for hours. Mom would need to force her to get up out of my bed just so she would go to the bathroom. Once finished with her business, she would quickly trot back inside to my room and cry to get back on the bed.


When I began working at Lighthouse Diving Center, my new boss, Randy (a dog lover himself) told me it would be alright for me to bring Tobby to work. After a few weeks, going to work became Tobby's favorite part of the day. She learned what "go to work?" meant and would pace excitedly and cry at the door if I wasn't coming fast enough. She hated being left behind. If, for some reason, I needed to leave her home, you could count on finding the contents of the waste paper basket spread throughout the house.



...to be continued...