Edison

Edison “Eddie” Thomas Lien
March 2, 2006 – January 27, 2019
As someone who has written his entire life, nothing proved more challenging than summing up what an amazingly brilliant spirit Eddie was. Eddie arrived in my life a tiny, golden fluff ball, just 10 weeks old. His heart had a small hole in it and the breeder feared no one would take him, so I purchased my bargain puppy for just $50. Within a few weeks, I knew I had found something special as I witnessed this tiny monster climb our table in the backyard and devour an entire t-bone steak before I could even get close enough to grab him.

The hole in his heart healed, but the hole in mine from saying good bye never will. Eddie wasn’t a dog. He was my furry son, my best friend, my guardian, and my confident. Long before I met my wife or had my daughter, there was Eddie and his little Aussie brother Tobey. Through such painful events as enduring an exhausting and lengthy physical recovery from cancer, Eddie remained beside me, pushing me on to walk one more block, or laying by me when my whole body hurt. Eddie was always there, and he loved everyone he met, just as everyone loved him.

My daughter learned to love animals because of Eddie and his name became one of her first words. I only wish she could have the years with him I did. My wife instantly fell for his big, brown eyes, and he knew right away he finally had a mommy. However, he still never gave up his spot in the front seat of my truck to her. Even as time wore down his joints and stole his ability to move, it could never wear down his ability to love or eat. We often joked that Eddie’s body contained three things: his diabolically, ingenious brain, his insatiable stomach, and his tremendous and loving heart. When his body failed his ability for his brain to concoct schemes to steal food, he simply thought of ways to scam it from people and no one loved feeding her puppy more than my daughter.

In 2017, we added a husky named Logan, and our daughter Eliza was born. My wife and I agreed this brought a youthful bounce back to Eddie. In the weeks that followed Eddie’s passing, both Logan and Eliza searched the house for their big brother, breaking my wife and I’s heart repeatedly. Tobey simply sulked, mourning in his own way. It took weeks for me to write this because each time I tried, I cried too much to type. These words do not begin to convey who Eddie was, or what he meant to this family. The memories he gave us will always be a beautiful piece of our family as he watches over us and we will love him until the day comes when we see each other again.