Hey good people! We have a guest blogger on the site! I want to thank my husband for this post. I didn't want to do all of the recaps without any of his input or perspective, so I asked him to put together a little something about the wedding. Here's my husband's take on a very special member of our bridal party - The Best Pooch. Without further adieu, here's my hubby in his own words.
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So Wifey has been asking me to gues blog for a while now, but I
never thought I had anything to say. However, with us counting down to our first anniversary, and
her subsequent posts recalling that week, this is as good time as any. The idea for this blog post came to me after talking
with my friend Kay. We were talking about our new dog, Tyson. I told him
that he’s been a great dog and we both love him. Kay then asked if Tyson were around
last year, would I have included him in the ceremony. I
thought about it for awhile, and my answer was probably no.
Tyson is a GREAT dog, and we have all been
witness to his amazing dance moves. However, a dog like Jigga and the
relationship I had with him is probably a once in a lifetime experience. When Jigga was
close to the end of his life, and we starting the discussion on whether to put him down,
friends and families were worried more about me than my dog’s health. The
reason they had such concern is because we had a long history. The
closeness I had with that dog cannot be understated. No matter how many special bonds I have with the new dogs that will enter our lives, none will replace the relationship I had with him.
For a little backstory, I got Jigga back when I was living
in Korea. This was my first job out of college and my first year as a teacher.
While I was there, I found out that my girlfriend who was back at college had cheated on me. I was crushed and felt alone; it didn’t help that I was in another country. In order to stem my feelings of isolation, I went to the local
animal shelter to get a cat. When I got there I didn’t see any cats I liked
however there was a little fella tucked away in the corner. I went up to
Scottie’s (his name at the time) cage and he walked up and stuck his paw out and it was love at first sight. When I looked
at him, the song “Hard Knock Life” started playing in my head and that is where
he got his name, Jigga.
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| Jigga's first night with me in Korea |
Over the years, Jigga would go on to help me through some of
my darkest days, failed relationships, and overall bad times in my life. I
could always count on his happy face to greet me when I came home. Now he
wasn’t always the most affectionate, and many times was standoffish. However, he
seemed to know when I wasn’t right, and he subsequently rose to the
occasion. During my passage through
adulthood, Jigga was there and also got to be close friends with many of boys. All of
them have their Jigga stories like they do about my old black couch that TJ made me give away (That’s a
post for another day). He was there for my friends when they needed comfort.
Fast forward to February, 2011, around the time I was
finalizing TJ’s engagement ring. Jigga
was there to wag his tail when I asked him whether to increase the size of her diamond, which I took as a yes. He also communicated another message to me; he was tired. Jigga grew
to be a very old dog that had been through more near-deaths than 2pac in his
prime. At that moment, I felt that he had hung around as long as he did so that he
could see me be with “The One.” I would tell TJ this story and say that I
wouldn’t be surprised if he made it to the wedding just to see us through.
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| "What?!? You know you better increase the carats of that ring!" |
When you look back at this backstory, you see why my pooch
HAD to be in the wedding. When we negotiated with the Carnegie, they had a
strict no pets policy. One of the workers went on to tell us that in the building's
long history, a pet has never been inside. With this news, I became
determined to get my boy in. I went ahead and bought him his own tux, which TJ thought would be used for pictures before the ceremony. I have to say that my boy was stylin' on them
that day and was so well behaved.
TJ had no idea what else I had planned, and I hoped to
surprise her when she came down the stairs.
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| Waiting on the bride to make her way down the stairs |
Now I have never revealed how I got
Jigga into the bulding up until now but here it goes……I prayed on it. I prayed
that one of my best friends would be able to slide in and out without the Carnegie
officials noticing. I was worried that he would bark that day, which would have alerted someone, but Jigga didn’t make a sound the whole time
he was in there.
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| Jigga and I on our way to the wedding ceremony |
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| Jigga giving me a pep talk before the vows |
Thankfully, my prayers were answered, and Jigga served as the best pooch during the ceremony. He
stood with the rest of our loved ones as we took our vows and began our
journey as one.
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| Jigga looking on during the ceremony and giving us his blessing |
I didn’t think he would survive long after we were married,
but sure enough he hung around close to another year. I like to believe he
thought his work wasn’t done and wanted to make sure we got through our first
year. As I reflect on this first year of marriage I also think about Jigga who
was there for me through my worst days and now my best days with with my wife.
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| Always the photo bomber! |
Jigga, I love You and Thanks.
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I want to sincerely thank my husband for guest blogging. Be on the lookout for more posts from him in the future.
Until next time . . . we'll be missing Jiggy and loving Tyson!
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