A Tribute to a Dad and a Dog:
A Lesson in Worship and the Fellowship of Suffering
By Wayne Harmon
BUBBA
My father believed that a boy should have a dog. He had dogs all his life. They were good friends and companions for him. I want to pay tribute to one of them here, Bubba.
Bubba was an Australian Shepherd mixed breed. Like many “mutts” he was extremely intelligent. He was my dad’s “last dog”.
When I was a kid dogs weren’t allowed in the house. Things were different with Bubba. While still young he had somehow broken his right front leg. He was not only allowed in the house while he mended, he was allowed to share my father’s recliner with him. (Who is this man? We kids weren’t allowed to share the recliner!)
Once the broken leg was mended, Bubba resumed the dog’s rightful place, outside, but my father and he bonded during Bubba’s rehabilitation.
My father loved gardening. He was a “man of the soil”. He could take a handful of dirt from his freshly plowed garden plot and know its quality by its feel and smell. While others in the community had their gardens produce low yields, if not outright fail, Dad’s garden would always have abundance.
And when Dad was in his garden, Bubba was by his side. He was never in the way; he was just with my father.
Parkinson’s disease robbed my dad of his ability to garden as he once had. He had to retire from the pulpit after almost forty years. He spent much of his time in his porch swing. Bubba would climb into the swing with him and rest his head in Dad’s lap. There was a good deal more dog in that swing than there had been pup in the recliner.
Man and dog; they didn’t do much. They were just together.
One day a cow that had just calved attacked Bubba out of instinct. It wasn’t malicious. It was just a mother trying to protect her baby from what she thought was a threat. Bubba was older and slower, and he didn’t get out of the way in time. He didn’t make it.
A few short, very short, years later my father passed away.
A boy and his dog; together again.
Copyright 2013 Wayne Harmon