This is a song I never wanted to write but I absolutely had to. Back in Oct. of 2004, for my wife’s first anniversary present, I bought (adopted) a dog at a pet shop. At this particular pet shop, I was a UPS driver delivering their supplies on a weekly basis for nearly a month and I saw this Doberman there every time. For a deal that was truly a steal, I bought the puppy that was already 4 months old at the time. The owner said the other people who wanted her had her shipped to his pet shop and they balked out of adopting her. I thought she was a perfect gift, but I soon regretted the decision. In my personal life up until that point, I didn’t like dogs at all. I was a cat person. I’ve had two dogs as a child and they both apparently bit me. I remember one of them being very mean. And as a UPS driver, I was bitten several times by the time I adopted Mimi. (My wife named her Mischa and also gave her the nickname Mimi which she always responded to.) My wife fell in love with Mimi instantly and Mimi bonded with her almost immediately. I, however, didn’t fare as well. I disliked her from nearly the start after getting her home. I wasn’t used to puppies and the amount of true work it takes to raise one. From biting things she wasn’t supposed to, to not being potty trained in the house, to running away from me when calling her and so forth, I was just losing my patience with her. Thanks to my wife’s love and understanding, Mimi grew up to be the best dog I’ve ever known, and I came to consider her a true and valued family member. For me, originally, I wanted to get her not just as an anniversary present, but as a guard dog for protection since our place was being vandalized periodically. After getting her, all that stopped as well.
A little more than a month before her 8th birthday, she fell down our stairs and broke her hip bone. To this day, we don’t know why this happened. We took her to the ER vet and they implanted a metal leg brace to secure the two broken bones from the complicated fracture. In two months’ time, she was given a clean bill of health. Within two weeks after that, Mimi fell getting out of our vehicle and starting limping badly once again. We took her back in and they believed she developed a bacterial infection and wanted us to continue giving her antibiotics and then was scheduled for surgery to remove the implant which they believed was causing the infection. The day of her surgery, the surgeon suspected something other than infection and had her leg biopsied. The next day, it came back as osteosarcoma: bone cancer. She was given only a couple more months to live. Desperate to save her life, we found a vet who would remove her leg and it would have bought her some more time, approximately 4-6 months. After the amputation to remove the leg and the cancer that was killing her (and the cancerous tumor was now visibly growing at an alarming rate) we were to start her on chemotherapy. Considering her condition, her prognosis was better than fair and with things going smoothly; she may have another 2-3 years of life. Not only did we want that for her, she seemed to want that as well. However, shortly after her leg amputation surgery, she started to bleed out and her blood pressure dropped until she passed away. The family was devastated. We not only lost a great friend and companion, we lost our girl—our family member, our Mimi.
Her funeral and memorial service was 4 days later. Less than 12 hours before we said our final good-byes, I wrote this song in her memory. I recorded just a basic version of it with an acoustic guitar and lead vocals. My voice was so strained from sadness but I knew I had to finish what I had so I could play it for her memorial service. 2 ¾ months later, I was able to get myself together enough to make a final version of it, adding a bass, several vocal parts, and fleshing out the song even further. I wanted a cello part in it but didn’t want to play a synthesizer to get the sound. I ended up doing it vocally and manipulating the vocal with the Audacity sound editor. My lead vocal isn’t perfect, and for this particular song, I know it can never be since I can’t hold myself together long enough to make it work like that. The song is way too personal and I am, at the very least, glad that I am able to present it as a final tribute to her.
This is the 519th song I wrote.
Recorded at The CELL BLOCK Studio in Auburn, WA.
lyrics
MIMI, DID YOU KNOW HOW MUCH WE LOVED YOU SO?
MIMI, WE DIDN’T WANT TO LET YOU GO.
MIMI, WE LOVED YOU MORE THAN ANY WORDS CAN SAY.
MIMI, WE’RE GOING TO MISS YOU EVERY SINGLE DAY.
WE’LL MISS YOUR GENTLE TOUCH
AND CARESSING YOU SO MUCH.
THANK YOU FOR THE MEMORIES
AND THANK YOU FOR TEACHING ME.
MIMI, WE DON’T WANT TO SAY GOOD-BYE.
MEESH, FORGIVE US WHEN WE START TO CRY.
MISS MIMI, TIME FOR BEDDY-BED AND GO NIGHT, NIGHT.
PUPPY, YOUR SPIRIT WAS OUR GUIDING LIGHT.
YOU GAVE US MEANING TO OUR LIVES,
AND SHARED YOUR SOUL WITH MY WIFE.
WE FOUGHT WITH YOU SIDE BY SIDE.
YOUR HEART, YOUR TRUST YOU WOULD NEVER HIDE.
MESHEE, YOUR LOVE WAS WAY BEYOND MEASURE.
MISCHA, YOU’RE OUR LOYAL PROTECTOR.
MIMI, I HOPE YOU KNOW HOW MUCH WE LOVED YOU SO?
MIMI, WE NEVER WANTED TO HAVE LET YOU GO. OH NO…
I am a musician, singer, and songwriter doing this part-time but have been doing it all my life. I started singing before I
could talk at the age of one, and wrote my first real song at 15 years of age. (If you count avant-garde as a song, then the age would be 7.) I currently own my own recording studio; and I write, perform, and record my own music (and other's from time to time.) I am Santairs....more
I've jammed with this guy and have heard this band live. They play with all their soul and it shows--you can hear it as well as feel the music. The Santairs
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