My dearest followers, the past week has been an incredibly rough and painful one for my family and I. While my family and I were in Seoul, my beloved Chowder went missing and we only found out three days after. A search began through Facebook posts, and soon after we received messages that a dog of similar appearance was found on a high way near our house, lying in the middle of the road on a grass divider under the tree. We immediately flew home. We spoke to people who worked around the area and my dad was eventually led to a furniture store where he found Chowder's red collar hanging off the wall. He was told they cleared his body by dumping it into the monsoon drain nearby. We could not even give him a proper burial. Dad walking into the house with his collar in his hands is one image I will never forget; it confirmed the worst fear in us that Chowder was dead.
If you've had that one special beloved irreplaceable dog, you might understand the depths of our pain. Chowder was the highlight of our family, our pride and joy. We have had him for only four years but we would talk about him daily. My brothers and I are overseas and would beg my parents for photo and video updates all the time. There are dogs, and then there are very special dogs. Ones that form an unexplainable bond and connection with their owners. Chowder was like that. He was the most wonderful, dignified, poised, intelligent, darling dog, with the most expressive eyes and facial expressions. We never had to housebreak him, never had to worry about him chewing up any of our belongings, never had to tell him to not step on my in-progress paintings on the floor - he would look stare at it and walk around it. He was fantastic.
Sometimes I am still in denial that he is gone - that he is alive somewhere, that this is an evil twisted joke someone played on us, that he is kept somewhere in someone's house who has decided he wants to keep him! And then I realise that denial is a part of the grieving process, and tell myself that life punches us in the guts sometimes but there will be breathtakingly beautiful moments as well and right now, we will have to face the finality of death. It will take us a while - maybe forever - to get past this pain of missing Chowder.
Chowder, you were the most special dog, always on our minds, since the day we first laid eyes on you. The pain is so deep because our love for you is so vast. I will miss you and love you forever.
