30/07/2026
Goodbye, Henry. 🐾🌈
Two weeks ago he took his last breath, peacefully, at home, in his favourite winter spot - in front of the fireplace. He was 9 years, 3 months and 5 days old. 7+ years we got to spend together. What a full and beautiful time.
When I was 12 years old I read the book “The Neverending Story” which later was made into a movie. In it there is a luck dragon called Fuchur (Falcor in English). I soooo wanted a luck dragon of my own. They must be incredibly rare because it took more than 3 decades for the universe to send me a spare one: Henry. Look at the pic of the two of them below and tell me their resemblance isn’t uncanny!
Henry L O V E D food. He knew how to open the fridge - a skill he came with … so in the first 6 months we always duct-taped the fridge when we left home. After that he retired his skill, thankfully. He once ate a bag of tomatoes - about 2 kg, luckily NOT the bag. He peed reddish oceans for the next 24 hours. He also ate a bag of mandarines, including skins!
Henry had a habit of sleeping in the most uncomfortable looking positions.
He was a vocal dog, commenting on life in general and communicating his needs all day long. He had a remarkable repertoire of sounds to do so.
Henry was the bestest gentle and cheeky grandfather to all the puppies coming through daycare. He was the funniest of funcles (= (fun uncles) to all adolescents putting up with their inappropriateness in good humour and putting them in line when necessary but without ever ruffling any feathers (or fur, as the case may be). He was Rosa’s bestie and the relationship between these two provided me with endless hours of entertainment. She died 2.5 years ago. It seemed right to me and Rosa’s human to bury Henry next to her.
Although he has dropped his earthly disguise, I feel his presence strongly. I feel his love and our shared gratitude that we got to spend this time together. There is this song by Starling Arrow that accompanied us in his last days that has a line in it that sums it up perfectly for me: Mighty become subtle. You can listen to it here, and the lyrics are there as well: https://starlingarrow.com/track/3234558/wild-sweet
