Has it really been seven years since your passing come this August? Did I just blink and watch reality and time slip through my claws like sand through an hourglass? So much has transpired, so many events that were life changeing have come and gone.... We've lost so many members of our family now.... and all we can do is hold onto their memories. Treasured thaughts, memories and experiances.... we grasp so tightly to them, we hold them fast yet at the same time as gingerly as one would hold a hollowed out eggshell filled with precious treasure.

I remember when you were young and used to playfully maul my hands with your needle sharp fangs when we wrestled. I remember how you used to try and pull my hakama down to try and embarrass me, your way of joking around when you were young. I remember you being my eyes and ears when we went on walks at night up at the cabin. the way you scented the breeze for the smells of nature and incoming prey when we were up in the mountians... the way you used to hunt mice inside the cabin's kitchen. I remember you licking my wounds after surgeries, the way you used to sit at the table with everyone else when we were having dinner as a family. I remember, vividly, the flash of fangs and snarling growls you set upon us when you stole food- making us retrieve it from your snapping maw. I remember you challengeing, fighting and hunting the other neighborhood dogs for dominance... I remember you at my side whenever I gave the hand sign. a quick snap and point, and you responded with military precision and loyalty.

I remember on the nights of the full moon when you became agitated... I remember seeing the glare in your eyes when you hid in the shadows to jokingly scare me whitless.

I remember your death. I gave you your last meal as you lay there on the living room floor, ready to be taken away to be euthanized by a silver hypodermic needle.

I will always remember you, little bro. always.