Linda Torres - My Dog, My Hero

 

The happiest moment in my life was when I jumped into my husband's arms and I got back home from Afghanistan. [whistles] Yeah. So he picked me up from Fort Benning, Georgia, if you know where that is, and we drove to DC where I was stationed. I was so excited to see Gina. She hadn't seen me in, like, six or seven months. And she came home, and it would always be an empty house. And then she saw me, and she was just like, “Oh, that's my person.” So she came up to me and ran up to me, and she had her tail wagging just enthusiastically. And she came up to me and kissed me and circled me. So that was wonderful. 

 

So the next day, Adam, my husband, went to work, was really busy and had a lot of work to do. I, on the other hand, had a lot of days off. I was really lonely and alienated, and I found out that I had a back injury, so I couldn't run or do yoga or do any of those things that I like to do for stress relief. But what I did was I walked Gina a ton, and I played fetch with her, and I read books about war stories because I felt connected to the people in the books and stuff. But Adam was acting a little strange. He would come home late, and he would be really withdrawn and quiet and stuff. So I sat him down and I was just like, “What is up?” And he said, You were gone, and I liked it. I never wanted to be married to you.” So, yeah. So it didn't work out. 

But divorce was still really hard for me. I mean, I thought I was going to be with him for the rest of my life. So I remember deciding to buy a nice purple climbing rope from REI, and I was going to go on a walk with Gina, and logistically I was going to figure out which tree to hang myself on. So I finally found a tree, then Gina found the stick. And usually that means that “you got to stop whatever you're doing, because you got to throw the stick.” So I threw the stick, and she came back to me, and she had the biggest smile and enthusiastically wagging tail. And that moment, I knew that I had to take care of her and she was going to take care of me. 

So the army decided to move me across the country to Washington state. And I told Adam that I wanted to take Gina with me because she was my best friend during this really dark time. He told me he couldn't say no to me. So we moved here, Washington state. There's something so transformative about living here, and that's. I don't know if it's the air, the views, the mountain. It was fantastic. It's been fantastic. So after a year of living here, the army said, “You're going to deploy again.” So I sent Gina to stay with my family down in San Diego. My dad really enjoyed it. He said that he had found a partner to keep him healthy. So after a couple weeks, the army said, “Just kidding, you got canceled for that deployment.” So I went down to retrieve her. 

So my dad was just like, “Hey, can I have your dog?” And I said, “No, but you could, you know-- [audience laughter] I said, “No, but during the flu season, I work a ton, and I'm going to be working on grad school and stuff, so you could keep her for a couple months.” So flu season came around, and I sent Gina down to San Diego. This time, I didn't go with her. My parents noticed that she was drinking a lot of water and that she was really tired, and we thought she was really anxious from the flight and just really tired. 

 

So the next afternoon, my mom decided to cook her bacon, and Gina came up to her and she collapsed. And that was it. The next couple days were a blur. Painful. I knew I had to tell one person who loved her as much as I did, and that was Adam. Though we grew apart in passions, we loved-- we had the same love for a wonderful, amazing dog. I am so thankful that I had her. She saved me. Through her, I learned about focus, joy, and true love. Thank you.