Editor’s Note: “When you wake up every morning with that face in yours, saying, ‘What kind of adventure are we going on today,’ it changes how you live your life,” Electric Factory co-founder Larry Magid said when we called to express our condolences over the passing of his and wife Mickey’s longtime loyal companion. “It sure beats waking to a phone call from an agent who’s pissed off that his act isn’t getting paid more.”
Here, Magid’s missive on what really matters in life:
The bed bounced this morning as it did every morning for 14 years. Four legs crept up until I could feel her breath on my face. Her whiskers tickled my nose and the funny gibberish she muttered was punctuated by a big lick across my face. I opened one eye and grinned to greet Midnight and start our day. She wasn’t there. A gentle breeze crossed my face. The window shades rustled, and the breeze picked up. Mickey slowly woke amid the commotion. The windows were closed. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a small silver streak race across the blue morning sky. We watched until it disappeared from our vision.
I stood stunned and shivered for a moment. It was all too real … but our beautiful and wonderful Middie passed on quietly yesterday afternoon. She left us as softly as she did when she first entered our lives over 14 years ago.
The front door opened and in walked a regally striking black dog with flappy helicopter ears. I was sitting on a bench awaiting her arrival. She looked at me with her large brown eyes and nestled between my knees her short, funny tail wagging at our meeting.
She looked up and our eyes met. It felt like she was looking deep into my soul. Could it be … could it happen to me twice? Could it be love at first sight, again? First with Mickey … and now with Midnight.
With her great perception, Mickey thought that I needed a dog. She was right. For a couple of years I had been drifting. What was about to happen to me was life altering. Midnight quickly filled a deep hole inside me. In a short period, I began to see life differently. In a short time I tried to look at life through her eyes. Stepping outside of myself brought a whole new perspective to my life and hers.
Three months had passed since Midnight entered our lives. She clung to us but was not allowed on the bed. Her bed was next to me on the floor below. It was about 3 in the morning. I felt a presence of something near me. I opened one eye to see her bright brown eyes staring at me, tongue hanging up forming a big smile and tail wagging furiously. I looked over at Mickey. She was sound asleep. I turned back to Middie, whispered and welcomed her on the bed throwing the covers open. We snuggled together her warm body next to mine. I threw my arms around her paws and we passed out. It continued until last year when she was no longer able to jump, but she stayed close. Her eyes always looking at me, watching me, penetrating my soul. I could not go to sleep until she was nestled in. She was no longer my soul mate. She had become my very soul.
Midnight, queen of the park and all she surveyed, demanded your attention. She was a noble figure. People stopped to say how beautiful she was, not knowing that she was even more than that on the inside.
Each day, we looked for new adventures, a new path to explore, or we sat quietly side by side watching TV or reading, content with each other’s company. If the phone rang, she would listen intently. In the days when her hearing was better, she would rush to the front door when the bell rang barking loudly to see who came to visit her. She taught Chrissy [Magid’s younger dog] to follow her and to wait by the front door until we came home. Mickey and I shared a love so strong with Midnight we could almost burst. It’s funny, but when we went out for the evening we had the sitter send us a photo to let us know she was okay.
So here we are. Our best friend, closest companion and life teacher is gone but lives on in us eternally.
Midnight, queen of the park and all she surveyed, demanded your attention. She was a noble figure. People stopped to say how beautiful she was, not knowing that she was even more than that on the inside. She grew more beautiful each day with the prettiest white eyelashes and black freckle marks where her whiskers grew. She had a remarkable journey coming to us as a two-year-old rescue from Gaston, North Carolina barely avoiding certain death in a kill shelter. An abused dog, she was tied to a tree 24 hours a day and then attacked by two dogs in a foster home. She had nine puppies that she could not nurse due to her very anemic condition. Mid did get to visit with two of her puppies. One of them, Oden, even sent her a Mother’s Day card.
She was a fighter, strong and strong-willed, fighting off several life-threatening problems. She had a severe loss of her body’s ability to make red blood cells. A miracle human plasma treatment became available and saved her life. Cancer followed shortly after and a few months later and then another bout with a low red cell count threatened her life. Again, another lifesaving plasma treatment became available, another miracle that saved her life. One night we didn’t like her breathing. Half of her vocal cords were paralyzed. An operation saved the other half and once again … her life. Over the past few years, she collapsed and had four episodes of the loss of her hind legs. Each time she recovered. Each time we thought we might lose her the dog gods kept throwing her back to us until she could no longer stand.
We came down to the shore house, all of us to recuperate from a difficult winter, knowing how much Middie loved it here. I believe that she watched over me until she felt that I was recovering well enough to finally let go. I gather my strength from her and know she is watching over me and that’s all I need.
So, my friend, thank you for rescuing me … time and again. Thanks for waiting for us at the front door last week just as you have done for over 14 years. Thanks for teaching Chrissy the ropes and showing her that your wisdom will guide her. Thanks for long walks and new discoveries. Thanks for the fun times on the beach. Thanks for all those belly up rubs and boinking in the snow. And the kisses … oh the kisses! Most of all, thanks for making me a better person. When I pass, I have made arrangements for your ashes to be buried with me.
May your next journey be as rewarding as the years you have shared together with us.
Life will never be the same without you. You showed us the path of giving and sharing and bringing out the best in us.
When the night skies are clear we will look up and see your one bright shining star. Farewell and bon voyage, our lovely.
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