After a good night’s sleep I made my way over to Galaxy Starworld to catch up with Heath, Kirsty and F-Train.

Once there, I grabbed some food and made use of the free water and soft drinks after barely having any liquids over the past 30 hours or so.

Then I got the phone call that I had prepared myself for, but had been dreaded for many weeks and months . . . it was my Mum calling to inform me of the bad news that my dog Goldie had passed away.

Goldie had been through lots since I got him for my tenth birthday – from knee reconstructions to hip replacements to blindness and a bad case of arthritis – but after all of that he still fought through.

When I returned home from Las Vegas he was getting worse. He couldn’t walk too far otherwise his back legs would give way and he would fall into a half sitting, half lying down position. Although this may sound cruel, I had began preparing myself mentally for the worse, and the fact that he had reached the expected life span of a Beagle didn’t help too much either.

While in Queensland and then at the Vic Champs, Goldie had a cyst removed from his right back leg, and when I was home for a few days he was a billion times better then he has been in years – no falling, no visible pain and no discomfort.

The night before I left, we sat watching TV together for a few hours before I had to drive to the airport – this would be the last time I ever saw him.

The night he passed, Goldie lapped up every bit of his favourite dinner – chicken and rice (unusual for a dog I know) before walking over to his favourite patch of lawn to lie down. With Dad cooking a barbeque, Mum was wondering where Goldie was as his usual routine saw him inside by now. Dad confirmed the bad news to Mum and then to me, and our family dog of thirteen years had moved onto a better place.

I will always love you Goldie.

Goldie
R.I.P Goldie (October 23, 1995 – August 21, 2009)