ginger and my childhood

I had known it was coming for a couple of days, actually a couple of months. Ginger was an old dog. She had all kinds of health problems. She had terrible arthritis and many benign tumors all over her body. She was nearly blind and could barely hear anything. For the last couple of months it had taken me effort just to get her attention. She died on Wednesday, March 26 on my porch after lying in the same spot for nearly three days, not eating anything and drinking very little. Although before she died I had had no idea of how her death would affect me, after it occurred I became acutely aware that her it marked the beginning of a very significant transition in my life.
My family got Ginger about a year after I was born. As long as I can remember back she was there. We grew up together. When I was very young I had a tendency towards mischief, and this lead me to have many memorable run-ins with Ginger. I can remember playfully (or so I thought) trying to grab Ginger's legs when sh...