CHUMSY
I grew up living with cats and dogs. My parents usually adopt stray cats and dogs because they say it is easier to adopt stray pets than to purchase at pet shops. Our family’s first dog was named Chumsy, he spent almost six years living with us. He was on a leash to avoid an accidental bite because our house was like a compound at that time. Chumsy was a birthday gift from my parents because I keep on saying that I really want to have a pet inside our house. We take care of him, we give him a good space to sleep, we keep him clean to avoid having to plead. Having a dog is really a big responsibility like how we take care of a child. It needs to have enough resources to provide daily needs, especially food to eat. Food for pets is not the same as the food humans consume. There are a lot of foods that are not allowed to be eaten by our pets like grapes and raisins, onions, garlic and chives, chocolate bars, etc. We should be aware of this food to lengthen their years of living. My mother usually takes him a bath every week after washing our clothes. We transferred twice for our home to live in. He was our house guard. That is why he always welcomes everyone first before entering our house. I used to go home after school seeing him outside our door. One day in April 2011, he already left us. He was suspected to die because of eating dangerous food that he should not eat. We noticed that he became less energetic than before, he started not eating food that we prepared for him. It really hurts us when we see him not moving already while blood is flowing outside his body parts. We cried a lot on that day because of years of attachment to every member of our family. I really miss having a dog like him who really gives us security but I am now grateful for having a pair of a stray cat named Blue and a dog named Kobe that bonds inside our house. We allow them to roam inside and outside to feel they are free. Having them inside our home really allows me to be motivated and surpass every stressful and nervous day of my student life. They really identify whether a person is feeling something wrong because they never left that person and they keep on leaning their body to comfort the person.
BLACK
Back when I was a kid, I always believed in superstitious beliefs. A fan of paranormal occurrences unexplained by science. Growing up, also opened my eyes and mind that those are being unfair though slightly maybe still true in some circumstances. One superstitious belief I won’t forget and still runs in my system until now is the meaning of black cat crossing your path. It was believed that if it crosses your path, you will be unlucky on that day or the following days. I brought it up until now where I don’t want to adopt or hold a black cat or dog as I believed the creature will bring bad luck to me. But the line crossed when I happened to meet and adopt our dog “Black”. Prior to the so-called forced adoption because I didn't really want to add another dog to our family because we already had two, we were left with no choice because she had no one to run to. The tiny small weak creature, colored black from head to toe with the combination of those black pearl round eyes, captivated my heart at an instant. What a poor dog! That’s what I thought at the time. She was abandoned by her owner, leaving her not feeling well, feeling blue. The dog gradually grew up beautiful in our care, from tiny to huge, from feeling blue to joyous and now her naughtiness is ten times like a toddler kid. Looking back on the day that she was laid on our hands, I always think that what if we didn’t welcome this one? What if I didn’t cross the line on my belief? Maybe our other two dogs are still lonely, maybe they don’t find the sibling and happy pill on her figure and maybe still we don’t have the bravest, most reliable, and loyal dog in our house.
Written By: Melary Dela Rama Taborada & Jessica Rose Tumalip
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