Joanna Zajac-Medor

Joanna Zajac-Medor ENG 833: Digital Storytelling Story Core

Problem When I was nine and a half years old, my parents informed me that we had to move from the house I’d known all my life. I’d have to attend a new school, which was quite scary to me since I was incredibly shy. At the same time, my sister moved away to college, so I also had to say goodbye to her and get used to her not living with us anymore. The only constant in all of this was my dog, a retriever mix named Sparky. Sparky was given to my sister on her tenth birthday. I was only two at the time, so I didn’t know life without Sparky in it. Then, two days before I was to start at my new school, Sparky was hit by a car in front of our new house and died. I was beyond devastated.

Solution After being depressed for some time over losing Sparky, I told my parents I needed a new dog. I needed a dog who wouldn’t belong to any of three my sisters; a dog all my own. Soon we got Cassie, a beautiful black lab puppy. Cassie made me happy again. I couldn’t resist smiling when she looked at me. She grew up with me through the years. I survived high school by telling her my woes. We went on family vacations together and celebrated holidays together. We both enjoyed it when my nieces and nephew came to visit. Cassie always kept a close eye on me, even watching as my fiancé proposed to me. Cassie was there through so many stages of my life, making them all the more memorable.

Transformation Cassie helped me change from a sad little girl into a confident young woman. My upbringing was happier because she was a part of it. When it came time to let Cassie go, I knew I had to for her own good. It was one of the hardest decisions I’ve had to make, but she had given me her selfless love throughout her life. It was my turn to do the same for her and release her from her pain. She gave me the strength to let go and the memories that I know will never fade. Today, with that memory of her watching us as we became engaged, my husband and I are now ready to get our first dog together. I hope to make this new dog as happy as Cassie made me. Joanna Zajac-Medor Cassie Story Map

Beginning: For as long as I can remember, my parents have always owned a dog. Problem: When I’m nine years old, my parents tell me we have to move from my childhood home. I’ll have to attend a new school. I’ll also have to say goodbye to my sister, who is moving away to college. My only constant through all of this is my dog, Sparky. Once we move, Sparky gets hit by a car in front of our new house and dies. Middle: After being depressed for a while, my parents get me a black lab puppy that I name Cassie. Cassie is present for the next thirteen and a half years of my life, filling it with devotion and love. Solution: Cassie teaches me the strength I need to let her go when she gets sick. This time, it’s different when I lose my dog. I get to do something with Cassie that I never got to do with Sparky: say goodbye. Transformation: Cassie gives me strength and confidence. Having her in my life makes me happy again. With her, I grow from a young girl into a young woman. End: Cassie passes away. Two years later, my husband and I are ready to get our first dog together. I look forward to the wonderful cycle of a dog’s life beginning again. Joanna Zajac-Medor Cassie Storyboard Script Images Sound When I came home from the hospital as a baby, -picture of Butchie and me narration a lab mix named Butchie was there to greet me. For my whole life, my parents owned dogs. At one point, they had three dogs at once. For me, dogs were a way of life. I couldn’t believe some families didn’t own them, or even more unbelievable, didn’t want them. From ages two to nine, Sparky, a golden -picture of Sparky and me narration retriever mix was my faithful companion and playmate. Since me sisters were all older than me and didn’t always want to play, it was Sparky who was always there. Sparky was bought for my sister, but he was still my buddy, too. When I was nine years old, life as I knew it -picture of my parents’ house narration changed. My parents told me we were moving -picture of my sister and me at that time from the only house I ever knew to a new house in a new town. I would have to attend a new school, which was a nightmare for a shy girl like me. Also, my sister closest to my age, the only one still living at home, was moving away to college, and I would have to say goodbye to her. But on top of all that, on a summer morning in -last picture taken of Sparky narration August, my childhood changed. I heard my mom scream and I ran outside. Sparky was lying in the street, having been hit by a car. He died shortly after that. For the first time, I realized life wasn’t always innocent. Sometimes it was downright mean. My only comfort was the rain that came later that day, washing Sparky’s blood from the street. I was depressed for a while. I started my new -picture of me on the first day of 5th grade narration school, but had no dog to come home to. My parents said they would get me a dog, but that we should wait a bit. That made me sad, too. I felt like I didn’t just want, but needed a dog. I wanted a dog that wouldn’t be my sister’s dog, but my dog; a dog all my own. She came to me when I was a sad little girl. It -earliest picture of Cassie (in yard) narration was lucky that we got her: she was supposed to be someone else’s dog, but they never came to pick her up. Their loss became our gain. We drove up to where she was and spotted her -zoom in on Cassie’s face narration for the first time: a little, shiny black creature on four legs with a tiny head and beautiful brown eyes. I knelt down on the ground next to her and she looked at me; it was the first of many times that I would look into her eyes and knew what she was thinking. My father asked if I wanted her. Without even having to think, I yelled yes! I named my dog Cassie. She instantly filled up -pictures of Cassie in the backyard narration the part of my heart that had been broken. She -picture of her playing with Barbie dolls was a ball full of energy, jumping all over the -picture of her with beanie babies yard and house. She chased tennis balls like it -picture of Cassie and me from then was her job. She got loose from her cage when we left her home alone. She got into everything: stuffed animals, magazines, old bowling shoes, windshield wiper fluid. Through it all, she was my best friend. She looked at me and I melted. My mother and Cassie walked me to the bus stop every morning; Cassie would try to follow me on the bus. I would run home from the bus stop in the afternoon to see her. She had been waiting for me all day and I knew what it was like to wait for someone you loved to come home to you. Cassie had her quirky characteristics like -pictures of Cassie eating narration everyone else. She was always hot, even in the -pictures of her in the snow winter. She’d lie in the snow and lick it to stay -pictures of Cassie and me cool. She’d pant in front of fans until they were turned on for her and then block the breeze from the rest of us. She’d mow down her food with sounds as if she was a vacuum cleaner and then burp right near my mother as if to say she had enjoyed the meal she made for her. She’d beg for food all the time; she was always so hungry. She would put her head on my father’s knee and drool on him till he handed over some dinner scraps to her. She would put up with me when I grabbed her face in my hands and sang to her, smothering her with hugs and kisses all the while. Cassie did everything with me. She came with -pictures of Cassie during the holidays narration me to my grandmother’s house to visit her. She -pictures of her with other dogs celebrated holidays with our family. She went -pictures of her swimming at the Cape to my sisters’ houses and played with their dogs. -picture of her on my bed She helped me survive middle school and high school and was a loyal friend, even when my human friends weren’t. She came on vacation with us to Cape Cod, where she became an avid swimmer. And sometimes we didn’t go anywhere at all but home. She and I would lie on the floor together and snuggle. She would sleep on my bed at night until she got to be too big. And as she aged, so did I; we grew up together -photo montage of us aging together Narration and were so used to being around each other. So followed by when the time came for me to go to college, I the start of struggled a lot with leaving her. By this time, the song Cassie was already eight years old. I worried “You’ve Got that by the time I graduated and moved back a Friend in home, she would be gone and that I would never Me” get the chance to live under the same roof as her again. I just didn’t want her to think I had abandoned her and stop loving me. Fortunately, I went to college close enough to -pictures of us through my college years -music fades come home every weekend, which is almost out always what I did. When I came home, Cassie -narration would run towards me. I would run to her and continues hold her in my arms; it was a mini-reunion every time. She’d delight in having me home, but then when Sunday night rolled around and I lined my bags up by the door, she’d retreat to a spot in the living room behind her chair and ignore me, knowing I was leaving her again. I’d go over to her and kiss her on the nose and she was unresponsive. But then, by the following weekend when I’d come back to her, she’d run to me and all was forgiven. And when I did graduate from college and moved back home, my puppy was there waiting with a look as if to say, “it’s about time.” I always called Cassie my puppy, no matter how -picture of Cassie at age 12 narration old she became. She was probably around twelve when my sister said to me, “She’s the oldest puppy I’ve ever seen.” And my sister’s daughter, who was five years old at the time said, “Auntie, she’s not a puppy, she’s a dog.” I explained to her, “But Cassie will always be my puppy” and she seemed to understand. My puppy was never going to have puppies of -pictures of Cassie with the kids narration her own. She had this maternal side to her, -picture of her with baby Kareana though, and I always thought she would have -picture of her with Eva and John made a fantastic mother. However, in a way, -picture of Cassie with Kareana’s blanket she got to be a “mother” to my sisters’ children. -picture of tea party My oldest niece was always incredibly loving -picture of our group towards my dog. When my other niece and nephew came along, who are twins, they flocked to Cassie too, even though they had dogs of their own. They called her “Big Mama.” We’d all have tea parties together and dress up in scarves, even Cassie who, with a silk leopard print scarf on her tiny head and those beautiful big brown eyes, looked like an old beggar woman. The kids and I would dance around and she’d lie in the middle of our dance floor, old as she was, just to watch us. Cassie would follow the twins around and pick up all the food they dropped. My niece would put her blanket on Cassie. They’d all cuddle her arthritic thirteen year old bones and she’d be happy. Cassie really was there for every stage of my -first pictures of Josh and me engaged narration life, up until the very end of her life. On Christmas Eve in 2007, when my boyfriend of almost five years proposed to me, she planked herself right next to him to watch his every move. She always had her eye on him, as if to say that I was hers first, his second. She’d follow us from room to room to make sure we were never left alone for too long. Cassie was the first one to see my diamond ring; the first one I broke the news to: that another stage of our lives was beginning. But I think Cassie knew that this time, no matter -last pictures of Cassie narration how much we both wanted her to, she couldn’t go along with me anymore. She seemed to start deteriorating from the beginning of January on, reverting back to being the puppy I had always affectionately called her. She had accidents in the house again. She went back to eating puppy food because it was smaller and easier to chew. We had to become her back legs when she went down the outside steps because she kept falling. Then she stopped eating and drinking altogether, and started getting sick and dehydrated. She looked at me, as she did so many times in her life, as she had done when I had first seen her as a puppy, and she looked tired and sad.

My mother, father, and I had to make a decision -flash between young and old pictures of narration we never wanted to make: we had to put Cassie Cassie to sleep. My father worried about me being -fade to a black screen there when it happened. Everyone knew how attached she and I were; maybe it would be too hard on me. But I needed to be there for her, like she had always been for me - until the very end. She had been such a faithful dog and friend and now we needed to do right by her; to give her the rest she so needed. The vet agreed that Cassie was ready. I held her light, bony body and cried as I said my goodbyes to my best friend, thanking her for coming into my life and making me the happiest little girl in the world. I told her how grateful I was that she had been with me for so long, how I would miss her, never forget her, and would love her always. And then she looked at me one last time with her beautiful, tired eyes and I held her while she got the shot. And she slipped away, that beautiful tiny head of hers still resting in my hands. I put her on my lap for the final time and hugged her close, whispering to her what I always whispered to her before we went to sleep at night, “Goodnight, my angel. I love you.” It’s been two years since I lost Cassie, and a lot -picture of our wedding narration has happened. I got married and my husband -picture of our house and I bought our first house. We think it’s time that we got a dog; our first together as a couple. And when we bring that puppy home, I know I’ll look at her and think of Cassie. I only hope I can make this new puppy as happy as Cassie made me. music -photo montage to music “You’ve Got -years Cassie was alive a Friend in -end with my favorite picture of her Me” (start from where I left off before)