Morran and Camilla
I don’t know if you ever had a dog. “Having” a dog is not quite the same as living with one. “Having” a dog means something very, very deep and it is difficult to explain (I’m not quite sure it works exactly the same with cats). You see, dogs are old souls. You can just see it in their eyes. They know and love you more than they seem able to. They are terribly generous creatures.
I once had a dog. A lady dog. Super smart. I was around three, playing in my parent’s shop. She was a puppy and just walked up to me. We’ve never known how she made it there. But again, sometimes it felt like she just decided to be there and then. Inevitably I felt in love with her. And she let me believe that I made the choice of taking her home.
The thing is, Daisy (that was her name), was a biggish dog. So rather than staying at our flat, she lived in the country house. I would not see her everyday, and I was not incharge of her, but she adored me and I adored her. Life happened, and i saw her less, until I moved to Swaziland to study. Somebody went into the property to rob and beat her up. She recovered physically but not quite emotionally. Or so I’ve always been told, because she died, alone, one night. I was still in Swaziland and i never got a chance of saying bye.
But this story is not about me, or Daisy. This story is about Morran, and Camilla. Morran was a small dog. A lady dog too. She was petite but strong. As far as her character is concerned, I cannot really say much more. I never knew her personally. But I can imagine, because Morran chose Camilla Engman (one of my favorite artists) as her human friend. And I know the blessing that is.
Morran appeared constantly in Camilla’s blog and work. One of the most beautiful animal portrait’s I’ve ever seen was of Morran, by Camilla.
The thing of “having” a dog is that they are such beautiful companions, their friendship seems infinite. Like if they had always been there. But you see, things aren’t exactly like that. They use up the love one has to give in one’s life far quicker than we do. Again, they are so generous. Morran gave her love to Camilla for 13 years. And recently, she exhausted her physical supplies.
Camilla and Morran’s relationship has been inspiring all along, and what Camilla decided to do when she knew Morran was running out has been marvelous. She invited everyone who had ever been illuminated by their friendship to draw Morran. People replied en masse. And a book was born. And, what’s more, all the benefits from the book will go to WSPA - World Society for the Protection of Animals - Sweden (WSPA international).
And now Morran is a star. And I do not mean a celebrity, which she is anyways. I mean a shinning star somewhere above us. I get this funny feeling she would have gotten on well with Daisy. Two old souls laughing about us, humans. They’ll be back. And they’ll make someone else’s life full of love.
I do not know if I’ll ever have the chance of “having” another dog. But I truly hope so. In the meanwhile, here’s this testimony of a love story between a dog and a human.
Thanks for the example, Camilla.
