Chewbacca’s story started before he was even born. You see, I had previously owned a German Shepherd pup also named Chewbacca. I had just bought a new, bright red 2009 Dodge Ram. My first Chewbacca was now 2 months old and I was excited to proudly bring him to the jobsite for the first time. He was a handful but I was really beginning to bond with him. Before I even made it to the jobsite, pulling a trailer with all my equipment, my little pup jumped over the side of the bed because I only had him leashed on one side. Something I’ll regret and blame myself for until the day God calls me home. My little pup got ran over by the truck and dual axle trailer, three tires. He was gone. I.WAS.CRUSHED. Had never cried that hard in my life. I had to explain this to our two older children. A day I’ll never forget.
Many of you understand why I would say I did not want another puppy. I couldn’t do it all over again. But my wife persisted. And I’m sure you also understand what I mean when I say, “one does not ever just merely LOOK at puppies.” They’re like cars, you always end up buying. As my wife looked and forced me to as well, our hearts were tugged.
This litter was young, just three weeks. And the family had been hit with a devastating blow. Their adult son had recently been killed in a car accident, like the same day I ran over my pup. And so this broken hearted Mom needed to get these puppies to a home quickly. How could we say no?! We drove four hours from San Antonio to Bryan, TX.
When we knocked on her door a large intimidating male Shepherd came out to greet us so happily and licked my hand. She told us he was extraordinarily attentive and actually cared for and tended to his pups unlike normal males. He was so kind. And a certain little pup just melted our hearts when he licked our faces when we picked him up. Must be daddy’s boy.
The owner, who we thought we could maybe encourage in her grief, told us a story of how her late son had done the same thing I had. With his dog in the back of the truck, pulling into the driveway one day and the dog jumped out of the truck bed. The dog was killed. Her son was beside himself in grief.
So there we were, two families. Joined by grief. We were amazed at God’s goodness in allowing us to help this grieving Mom (we even took a kitten from her that resembled two cats I had owned before) and at the same time to be comforted BY HER! Only God can orchestrate beauty from ashes.
So we named our new puppy Chewbacca. There’s so much more to Chewbacca’s story. He gave us everything he had. And now his ashes are at my bedside.
We will miss him begging for marshmallows at our bonfires. He had a serious problem that I blamed my wife Hillary for. But in the end, it was the bag of marshmallows in his belly that comforted him (and provided some joy in the midst of many tears) as he went to sleep with his head on my lap. I miss his big furry hugs. He was beautiful, enormous, gentle, yet fierce when we needed him to be. He went toe to toe with a black bear. He fathered a beautiful litter of puppies. And he rode all the way from San Antonio to NY State in the bed of my red Dodge Ram. He loved that truck bed. It was his.
I LOVE YOU BOY. YOU’RE THE BESTEST DOG I EVER LOVED. AND YOU LOVED OUR FAMILY. ALWAYS A DADDY’S BOY.
WE WERE MEANT FOR EACH OTHER.