(This all actually happened earlier last month (Feb). I sent this to a co-worker the Monday after this all happened (Feb 7-12th). I figured that I would share this with you all.)

Early Thursday morning I lost THE best friend I've ever had. Almost 3 years ago, I moved with my room mate to Camby it's on the southwest side of Indy, out in the sticks. I'm a city slicker so being away from that atmosphere was VERY hard for me. There were 2 other neighbors in the area that we moved to. One was a minister and the other was the guy that owned the land that my room mate and the minister built their houses own.

This guy had a REALLY great dog, Kipper. He was a shepherd-retriever mix. We even thought he had a bit of wolf in him. Anyone Kipper's owner was never around, he worked all the time. Kipper had THE best personality ever. I would drive back and forth to work and he would ALWAYS greet me as I was coming and going. I've always been a dog person and he just wasn't the kind of dog you would want to ignore.

We became buddies not to soon after. I couldn't get out of my car without him wanting to jump on me. He got SO excited one day and literally jumped in my car with me. We're talking a fairly good-sized dog here. My room mate had a deck built on the front of the house during that first summer there. This was 2005. Kipper thought that was his watchtower. Because we became buddies, he would often sleep under my bedroom window which is on the front side of the house.

He didn't have anyone and my love life is about as stable as Britney Spears' mental state. It was as if he KNEW I had no one and made a choice to look after me. I've never bonded with a dog like this. I've had dogs in the past but Kipper, he was special. On a warm summer night, he and I would sit out on that deck and listen to music when my friends were off doing other things. There was never a time when that dog didn't come running up to me if he knew that I was outside.

There were times when I would notice that he was REALLY hungry and cold. I would let him in the garage and feed him. He was my canine version of a garbage disposal. I ever shared my White Castles with him. Everyone that knows me knows that I don't share those damn things with ANYBODY. He was such a presence around that yard and honestly, my life. He REALLY made a difference. Never underestimate the power of a wagging tail when work or rush hour traffic gets you down when you get home. I spent a lot and I mean A LOT of time with that dog. My neighbors knew this and all of my friends knew this.

There wasn't a time where I didn't mention him in any of my phone conversations to them. We would have cook-outs and bonfires and he was right there in the middle of it all. He LITERALLY was one of the gang. He was always there in the mornings and watched over my car as I would warm it up for the drive into work. If he wasn't there, it was a VERY rare thing. He was always outside my bedroom window the minute I opened my shades. The first time that happened, it scared the crap out of me! So, I got up Thursday morning and did my usual routine and he wasn't there.

As I mentioned it was VERY rare for him NOT to be out there. If he wasn't there, as soon as he would hear me opening any kind of door to leave the house, he would come running. I got up and left on Thursday morning and he wasn't there. Like I mentioned, he saw me down the drive to my house and UP the drive as well. He wasn't anywhere to be found Thursday morning. I went through the work day and drove home as I usually would. I found a note that my neighbor had taped to the garage door. Apparently, VERY early on Thursday morning, Kipper had been hit by a car. I thought this was VERY odd considering that dog was smart enough to know where the drive way ended and the road began. He was THE most intelligent dog I've ever known.

Kipper was alive but his hip was broken. The guy that hit him was nice enough to ride with my neighbor to the vet. Because of Kipper's age, it was suggested that the dog's best(?) bet was to be put down. He was a playful outside dog and I'm sure he TRULY would've suffered more had he lived. I read that note and I was just stunned. Since then, I've been completely lost. I barely left the house over the weekend because it just didn't seem right without him there, you know? I never would've thought that losing a dog would have had an impact as dramatic as THIS. He was one of the greats...

(It's a nice day out as I'm posting this (3/2). I know that if things were different, that dog and I would be out there enjoying it.)