The Last Song

Let me start this somber post on a high note, animals of all varieties have a strong tendency to love my singing. The ears fall back, the tongues come out, and the eyes start to beam with happiness and often atime, tears. I don’t know what it is, but animals just love to hear me sing. Well, let me tell you all what, no other animal on this entire planet loved hearing me sing more than our very own precious little French bulldog, Céline.

Sadly, with two days left on the calendar, 2020 claimed one more prominent soul from my life and sent our little angel Céline up to Heaven. Even though her suffering has now ended, ours has just begun. I know that she’s in a better place now because the last couple of months had been tough on her, but it certainly doesn’t make losing her any easier.

Despite her shortcomings, she was the sweetest and most loving little dog you could ever find. She didn’t have a mean bone in her body – well, except when if she thought her brother, our cat Leo, was getting more attention that her. Then her bitch-o-meter would IMMEDIATELY find itself on MAX – but when it came to people, she was always everyone’s best friend.

Céline was about thirteen and a half years old at the time of her passing, but that’s not how long Melissa had her. Céline had the misfortune of spending the first eight years of her life as a breeding dog, giving birth to litter after litter of Frenchie puppies for her former owner to profit from and doing all that from a small crate. Suffice it to say, the remaining five and a half years of her life were infinitely better than the first eight. Melissa provided Céline with a loving home full of all the treats she could ever desire, all the snuggles she could muster, and all the love and happiness she needed to extend her life far beyond where it would have gone had she of remained in her previous conditions.

Now that our Sweet Céline is gone and the last song has been sung, I thought I’d share with you all the two simple-as-can-be songs I made up for her that I would sing to her every night before we’d all go off to bed.

The first one went: Hola Céline. Hola Céline. Como Estas? Como Estas? Bien. Bien!

(I tried to get the upside down question mark at the front of “Como,” but couldn’t figure it out for the life of me, but trust me, I know it belongs there!)

The second went: Buenas noches mi amor. Buenas noches mi amor. Buenas noches! Buenas noches! Mi amor.

As you can tell, Céline was just as much a fan of Latin music as I am, but her favorite non-original song for me to sing was always James Blunt’s “You’re Beautiful.” I’d always finish our trio of songs with the chorus of this legendary jam and she’d just melt in my arms. Suffice it to say, when I’d hit those high notes she’d always have plenty of kisses to share with me and I’m going to miss those sweet kisses every single night.

Please enjoy these photos of Céline and everything she loved…

Well, as always, thank you so much for reading. I had a much happier post I intended to share today, but it felt both important and necessary to honor our Sweet Céline in a timely manner. Please feel free to share your condolences or favorite memories our our beloved girl in the comments below. Both Melissa and I look forward to reading and replying to them. Here’s hoping that 2021 is INFINITELY better to us ALL than 2020 ever was.