My beautiful Nicky......oh, he was phenomenally handsome with that mahogany red fur and that most perfect Siberian head, those little furry dimples at the corners of his mouth, those utterly clear eyes that just GRABBED the attention of anyone who looked at him.
I do believe that Nicky loved me more completely than has any creature on this planet, partially because he so needed me.....but also because I needed him.
He came to me in a condition of mortal illness: he had acute Ehrlichiosis (although the vet completely missed it and I'd never seen it before, so he went untreated at that time with the magic Doxycycline)....and heartworms.....and was malnourished.....and had been chained and beaten for the last how-ever-many months of his life before I found him at a local shelter. A compassionate shelter worker called me and I drove down there to look at him, knowing full well that I'd bring him home---no matter how near death he was---because he would need a few days or weeks or months of the knowledge and feel of love before he moved on to another existence. He had the most striking eyes---the bi-eyes....but so clear and penetrating that his ability to use them to look into a human soul was very apparent. When I met him, he crawled over to me (he was unable to walk) and LOOKED at me with those eyes.....and I knew I'd do anything on earth for him, offer him all the love I had in my heart.....that I'd end up rearranging my house and my life for him (I did)....and that I'd eventually lose him.
I am grateful now for the privilege of his company for 15 months and for the incomparable feelings of total devotion that we lavished upon each other. He was and is my hero and I look forward to crossing Rainbow Bridge to find him.