Puffin�s 32nd Anniversary

Today, “Ren Ri”, the 7th day of Chinese New Year, is the 32nd anniversary of Puffin’s passing. Puffin was my pet dog (since I was 8 years old until 22). He passed away of old age in 1985.

Here’s an excerpt from my book, Pawprints on my Heart:

On the seventh day of Chinese New Year, on Puffin’s fourteenth year, everyone was back home for the holidays.  My brother had bathed Puffin in the morning, and we watched him frolicking in the sun, in his usual cheerful and kingly self.  After a few hours, he collapsed.  Later, my parents told us that he had collapsed on a few occasions in the previous months, and they had already known that his end was near, but they had not had the heart to tell us.  He was not sick, but he was getting very old.  Fourteen human years is equivalent to seventy-two dog years.

My father, fearing the worst, brought Puffin into our shrine room.  He was very limp and frail.  It was all too sudden for us, especially for my brother and me.  We both started chanting and hoped that he would recover, but deep inside, I somehow knew his time was up.  Our parents came in and chanted with us.  Remirth came in quietly, and lay down beside her lifelong companion.  We sat around him, listening to his soft breathing, remembering how much joy he had brought us all in those past fourteen years.  I had been only eight years old when he had come into my life.  Now, I was twenty-two.  He had watched me grow up, and now it seemed time to say goodbye.

Puffin breathed his last, very peacefully, surrounded by his whole family, on that seventh day of Chinese New Year – a day which most Chinese regard as yan yat (people’s day).  A “good day” in the Chinese almanac.  My mother consoled us, “It’s a good day for a good rebirth.”

Uncle Renga and Uncle Gopal hurried over to our house.  They cried with us as they too had grown to love Puffin very much.  They helped us prepare the wood pyre at the back of our house.  We took a last look at Puffin, and stroked his silky golden hair.  My brother snipped a few locks of his hair and clipped his claws.  Even in death, he still had the very majestic look of a little lion.  The King.  Our King.  We wrapped him in a piece of white cloth, and amidst our soft chanting, we cremated Puffin’s remains that afternoon, with full Buddhist rites.

https://myanimalcare.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Pawprints-on-My-Heart-e-book.pdf (the whole story)

My brother’s spontaneous portrait of Puffin.

Puffin and me, at our Jalan Balai government quarters in Kuala Kangsar.

Our favourite photo of Puffin, because he is smiling!

We bought that mat for Puffin, from our trip to Bangkok.

Remirth & Puffin, watching the world go by from our verandah in Kuala Kangsar.

Source: https://myanimalcare.org/2017/02/03/puffins-32nd-anniversary..

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