OUR BELOVED PETS

In May of this year our sweet Bernese Mountain dog RIVER passed away. He was only
6 1/2, not all that young for this breed, but the lose of him was breathstealingly sad for me, Daniel, Isa and our 2 other dogs.
I have never been through the death of a pet, not that I can recall anyway. There was probably a few kitties that passed when I was little, but I just don't remember it - I don't remember the feelings that come over you when someone you love is ripped from your life.
These feelings of loss and loneliness, and just plain wrongness, were all new to me. And on top of it all, he passed so quickly I had no time to prepare - it was like, "He has cancer, we need to do a biopsy, sorry the needle pierced a vital organ..." Just a day and he was gone...

Well, since then, we have all felt an emptiness in the house. We've thought about another dog, but decided it would be sometime in the future.
Well, future came in an unexpected way.

We barely had time to move through the grieving process over Rivey when Pilot, our golden got sick. Now, Pilot is a retriever so she loves to chew and eat things she shouldn't - and in our house that is toys. We put them away as best we can, but she always manages to find something. Normally she will just poop the toy or sock or piece of cloth out (sorry)
But not this time. She had an obstruction. All last week she was at the hospital, in and out of surgery, highs and lows, and hopes that she would be back at home where she belonged by the weekend.

Unfortunately, this weekend came and so did the horrible infection. She was very sick, and we were not going to put her through another surgery. When I visited her on Friday afternoon I saw "it" in her eyes. Dogs are not like humans. When they've had enough, they've had enough - and I believe she'd had enough.
Regardless I wanted to see if she could make it through the night, maybe a miracle...but she couldn't. She became septic, and at 3 a.m. Saturday morning my husband held her as she slipped from this world.

I don't tell you this story to depress you, but I'm a writer and if I don't write about what's on my heart, I'll lose my mind.
Pilot and River deserve to be remembered.


Today, they will be...









"God saw you were getting tired
And a cure was not to be.
So He put His arms around you,
And whispered, "Come with me."
With tearful eyes we watched you suffer
and fade away
Although we loved you dearly,
We could not make you stay.
Your loving heart stopped beating,
Hard working paws to rest.
God broke our hearts to
prove to us,
He only takes the best."
~ Author Unknown