Irony

As the words of the song play on…”Its like rain on your wedding day” I am looking for answers to my own ironic tragedy.

Irony is a funny thing and it always leaves me with the question, “Why”. Why does it have to rain on my wedding day, why do bad things happen to good people, why do good things happen to bad people, why do things have to happen this way, why, why, why? It’s Ironic don’t you think?

This past week tragedy hit our home in an Ironic fashion. We have been living in downtown San Diego for about the past 5 months now. Our back patio and the entrance to our place that we use most are about 10 feet from a major street. When we first moved here we took extra time teaching our kids how to handle urban life. We taught them about cross walks as well as sidewalks and streets.

After taking the time to teach them we shifted our focus to Cleo our cute little toy poodle. We taught her where to go potty and to stay on the side walk. We even took extra measures with the back patio to make sure she could not get out.

I was the one that usually took Cleo on her walks. At night it got to the point where she would walk next to me without her leash on. Occasionally when we would do this she would run ahead of me and hide and as soon as I would get close she would jump out at me and begin to growl and jump around with that puppy like spirit. Yes Cleo had finally adjusted to urban life.

This past Friday we decided to go to one of our friends homes located in a safe gated community in Rancho Bernardo. We decided to bring Cleo and her little pirate outfit with us so she could go “trick or treating” with the kids. We arrived to their home early so that we could hang out for a while. My family went inside and I began unloading the car. I was getting the last load out of the car when I heard Cleo begin to squeal. I quickly turned around to discover Cleo had followed me out to the car. There she was flopping around in the street as the truck that hit her kept speeding by. I ran over to pick her up and within seconds she was dead in my arms. The vet later confirmed what we already knew, Cleo was dead.

This has been a rough couple of days for me and my family as Cleo was not just a dog but had become a part of the family. I try to explain to my 4 and 6 year old why Cleo is gone while not fully understanding it myself. How can I explain something so tragic to them when I am still left with questions?

It just seems so ironic. I live downtown 10 feet from a busy street. Cleo would walk around with me on the side walk with no leash on and cars speeding by and never once was her life in danger. Than we go to the safe suburbs and her life is taken. All of this leaves me with the question, “Why”. It’s ironic don’t you think?

For what I have learned from this tragic accident please go to Life at URBAN.

Thanks for listening
Dream Big, Ben