2014 is over, it’s time to reflect on last year, and for us here at Madness Labs it was a year of intense ups and downs. Today happens to be a down for us. I write this post, in tears, as we said good-bye to a family member yesterday, Kali.
Who’s that Wiener?
In short, Kali is our family dog. Back in 2011, before Madness Labs was officially in business, my wife, Emily, and I were gifted the cutest miniature dachshund for Christmas. My wife didn’t have a lot of friends at the time and spent so much time at home alone, it really made both of us feel better about having to be apart. I can still remember her first night at our apartment; she cried for about 2 hours until my Wife broke down and carrier her into our bed. I begrudgingly allowed this and this is where the unbreakable bond started forming, where Kali became more than a pet, but a member of the family.
Kali and Emily
As I stated before, Kali and Emmy spent a lot of time together in our apartment. I would come home every day to see them cuddled up on the couch or in the bed, and would just shake my head. When looking back now I should have reveled in those moments, because they wouldn’t last as long as anyone would have hoped. We watched all of our friends have babies, but we weren’t looking to have kids yet and besides we already had a child to call our own; after all, a dog is just a toddler covered in fur.
A dog is just a toddler covered in fur.
As time went on Emily and Kali grew even closer. No matter how many curve balls life would throw at us, we always had a happy wiener to come home to. I can’t imagine doing it over again without her, she really helped my wife in ways even her husband couldn’t. After a bout of financial issues, because I worked as a free lance web developer, we moved back home and a whole new chapter of our lives started.
Kali and Grandma
Throughout my childhood my mother has always had small dogs. Actually, we had a miniature dachshund, named Patches, and 2 miniature pincers named Tess and Penny. Along with our 3 “inside dogs”, as we called them, we also had 2 “outside dogs”, a rottweiler named Shera, and a blood hound named Hip. When we moved out into the country and away from the suburbs, we watched as the number of dogs dwindled, all of them living long happy lives. After the outside dogs passed my mother got 2 new dogs, Tip, an Anatolian shepherd, and Cleo, a great dane. Still the house was devoid of the click-clack of dog paws on linoleum, but not for long, as we moved in. With Emily and I being so busy it was nice to know that when we were out and about, that they were keeping each other company. Needless to say my mother and everyone else in the house quickly took to Kali. Even when she was a naughty little shit, no one could stay mad once they stared into her big brown eyes. Even the new big dogs took to Kali and made her part of their pack.
Kali and Her Pack
You know the one thing that is endearing about Kali’s breed is that they are a big dog in a little dog’s body. Note the heading text for this section Kali and “Her” pack, as I truly believe this is how she viewed it. Cleo, who was kept inside, and Kali were inseparable. Tip, who was kept outside, was like the cool kid. Kali would run out, get so excited to see her outside counterpart, and they would get into all kinds of trouble, except I don’t think Tip was as good at getting out of it. Sadly, a couple months ago, Cleo passed after a scuff with Tip and little did we know that this wasn’t the only dog we would lose in 2014.
Kali and her Back
Many of you are probably wondering why Kali’s life was cut so short. Well, Kali like many of her breed had Intervertebral Disk Disease, a disease that causes disks to blow in the back, causing pain, paralysis, and other terrible things. Kali’s mom had this pretty severe, as she became paralyzed shortly after we got Kali. This last year we had been in and out of Mizzou’s Veterinary Hospital trying to save her weakening spine, but to no avail as just last week she blew another disc and shortly thereafter, became paralyzed in her back half.
Saying Good-Bye…
It’s never easy to say good-bye to something or someone that you have such an attachment to, but sometimes it’s better to be remembered for your best qualities in life then how miserably it came to an end. So as we say good-bye to a family member, we look forward to a new year full of possibilities, and choose not to dwell on a sad year, but see everything with joy and excitement, just as Kali did.
Sometimes it’s better to be remembered for your best qualities in life then how miserably it came to an end
Happy New Year
It’s a new year and we have a new theme, so we can start this next year with a clean slate. I am hoping I wasn’t the buzz kill of the new year as this was not my intent. Put simply, I just hoped to share a fraction of the amount of happiness she provided our family and really heed everyone to enjoy some time with your loved ones this year, as you never know what your year might hold. Everyone here at Madness Labs wishes you a Happy New Year and we can’t wait to see what we’ll accomplish this year! Thanks for reading and have a safe holiday.