No regrets

This past week, unsurprisingly, Garfield has been on my mind all the time. Today is the 7th day since he has left, and we are still reeling from the shock and emptiness in our hearts.

Thinking back, I was so glad that during his younger days, I brought him to so many places. Canopy at Bishan Park, the McDonald's at Kovan, Xin Wang HK Cafe outside Heartland Mall, Doggiestyle Cafe at Nex, K9 Kafe for several birthday celebrations, Casa Verde at Botanic Gardens... the list goes on and on. He was always so happy whenever we bring him out, and he would have this gleeful look on his face when we tell him "let's go gai gai!" To make things easier, I even bought a pram for him (to protect him from accusing eyes aimed at him because of all the damn 'No Pets Allowed' signs). And later, I even got a small battery-operated fan (with soft blades) to clip on the roof of the pram to make sure he stays cool. It was only when he started ageing and was too tired to go out that we stopped bringing him out. 

And if I forget to say goodnight to him, along with a pat on his head and some slight tugging of his whiskers, I would always - without fail - get up from bed to do all that before going back to bed. No matter how tired I was. I would always think, Garfield is already so old; I won't be able to say goodnight to him forever. So I must grab every opportunity to do so when he is still around. And that I did.

As he needed help in peeing/pooing and also during meals, someone had to stay at home on weekends if everyone else was going out. Most of the time it was me who volunteered. And I have never ever complained about it, or even felt that Garfield was a hassle.

Taking this one more step further, whenever my parents were going overseas, either me or my brother would need to take leave to stay at home and take care of him. Again, most of the time I was the one who took the most leave, because my working schedule was more flexible than my brother's. And similarly, I have never felt that it was a burden. "Taking leave to babysit the dog" was something that most of my colleagues were already familiar with, in fact.

Garfield has led a good and comfortable life, surrounded by all of us who love him. And while I am sad and heartbroken over his departure, I have no regrets.