In December of 2016, I gave my soft coated wheaten terrier, Buster, kisses and hugs and said good-bye. It was a temporary good-bye while I relocated from Southern California to North Carolina. Buster stayed with my parents until I could get settled and then I would send for Buster in a couple of months.
I successfully moved my things and started my new job but missed my pup terribly. I was working incredibly long hours and planned on reuniting with my best friend within a couple of months but I never got the chance… Buster collapsed one night and was rushed to the vet. Buster had Addisons Disease, but it was managed through closely monitoring his health and medication. The disease was not the cause of his death, but an undetected tumor had grown and burst, unbeknownst to us. Though Buster saw the vet regularly, the tumor was not found and diagnosed.
The day Buster, who was 12 years old, passed away, he played with all of his friends in the park. It was a gorgeous Southern California day and my mom said that he was running around like he was a puppy again, playing, romping around, and having a ball. Buster came home and that night had a seizure and passed away at the Vet’s office.
My mom called me with the news the next day that Buster had passed away the night before. I was shocked and felt numb, completely numb. I finished out the rest of my day at work. For another two days or so, I felt a heavy sadness, but I was mostly numb (all the grief would come much later). It was almost like I couldn’t believe that he was gone.
On the second or third night (I can’t exactly remember) after Buster passed, he came to me in a dream. It was one of those dreams that felt completely real, like it was happening during my waking hours. Buster woke me up and was giving me a ton of kisses and was hugging me like he used to… I almost couldn’t breathe because he was kissing me all over my face 🙂 He was in my arms and we were sitting in our home in Southern California. He was very heavy and I began to kiss his ears and his face and rub his chest. When I rubbed his chest, I ran over an incision which still had stitches. My hands felt the stitches and the hair on his chest had been shaved. I continued to give him hugs and kisses and we were so happy to see each other. I held on to him. As I looked down at the incision, Buster gave me more kisses. We were sitting by the glass sliding door as we often did and the door was open… a strong breeze came through the door and the blinds moved. It looked like a storm was coming. Buster looked at me, moved off of my lap, and walked out the door and he just disappeared. As soon as he left, I woke up.
After the dream I knew that Buster had visited me. It felt too real to be otherwise. After the dream, I felt this overwhelming sense of love. I told my mom about it, and she said that the tumor was located on Buster’s chest. I think that Buster came to me to say good bye because we had been separated by thousands of miles and we didn’t have a chance to spend time together before he left. I think he came to me to help me begin to grieve. I miss him every day and I hope that he finds me again. I love him so…
–Shannon