Unadulterated Love

I tutored my China student again today. I brought her to the Bedok Library – Children’s section – so we could converse to our hearts contend, since we’re merely blending into the cacophony of sounds bustling about us. Our lesson was punctuated with shrill screams, pitiful sobbing, and much young voices blabbering away as they learn to master the beauty of expression. I managed to find this Grammar book at home that is 7 years outdated, going by how fast the syllabus changes on a yearly basis. So we went through the hard facts about Grammar, which I figured can’t change much, and it was a revision for me since I realised my own foundation is so weak.

I joined Ryan for badminton in the afternoon! It was a hell lot of fun even though I spent a great deal of time as the audience. Not that I minded of course, since every single match was played by such pro people (Ryan included!). I loved the sport but because I play it so infrequently, it seems like every time I'm starting all over. By the time I get the hang of things, the time’s almost up. But Ryan helps loads because he’s like my personal coach, reminding me all the pointers to take note of along the way =D The day ended in an epic match: Ryan and his uber cousin vs. Ryan’s Dad and the coach. FREAKING AWESOME PLAY!

After dinner, I sat down to complete the remaining portion of ‘Marley & Me’. The remaining air time leading up to the death of beloved Marley really had me thinking about JJ. The scenes, the emotions, and the reality – it was all something I could really identify with. Because I’ve been there, and it wasn’t that long ago that I was just there; three months and 24 days ago.

Like all who’ve owned dogs, and lost them, my dog really left a special paw print in my heart. It’s something which can never be erased, something irreplaceable, something so sentimental; you’d wanna hold those memories close to your heart forever. It’s always been said that dogs are the only creatures in the world that are capable of showering you with unconditional love, no matter your financial status, no matter how you look, no matter your intellect – they only know to love you for who you are.

On 20^th March 2002, my mum agreed to bring home an angel in disguise, JJ. It was such a surreal experience because during that time, my mum housed everything small from rabbits to fishes to (tons of) birds to hamsters to quails to guinea pigs to chicks, but nothing that could grow larger than a size 10 shoe. And I, for one, never ever thought she would. But she did, and she did it on my twelfth birthday. I always like to think JJ was the reason I performed reasonably well during all my major exams, from PSLE to O-levels to my recent harrowing A-levels. She was always there for me, when I felt the need to engage in some bipolar disorder syndrome and start talking to myself, or when I had to vent my frustration. She allowed me to nudge her when was eating, to poke her till she awoke when she was having sweet dreams, to tickle her at her ‘G-spot’ so her leg would involuntarily jerk and I could feel so tickled by it, to cry in her fur when I had no one else to turn to. And when she passed on before the A-level results were released, I thought I was screwed since my luckiest charm ever was gone. But she proved to be there for me till the very end, somehow.

If you have a dog right now, treasure it and make sure you remember all its mannerisms because it’ll be these fragments of memories that you’ll hold dear in time to come. I believe if you’ve lost a dog, what’ll keep you from having another one (if you have reservations) wouldn’t be the extra effort you’d have to fork out to take care of it, rather it would be the pain of losing a friend, one which didn’t need verbal communication because the connection between the hearts was powerful enough, forever.