Last fall took the dogs of 2 of Mom's coworkers over the Rainbow Bridge. One was Tucker, an older lab fella who had a large cyst growing on his belly for a long time and it suddenly ruptured and within a day he was gone.
Tucker
Only a month later, it was time for another of Mom's co-workers dogs, a big Rottie named Zeus, to make that difficult trip. You can visit his memorial movie if you click on his name.
February brought the passing of a friend's beloved poodle, Petey, who was too young to suddenly pass away with an inoperable brain tumor. He was a special little fella who lived with his 2 leggers and a 4 legger brother Bennie, who had adopted him into their pack when his elderly 2 leggers could no longer care for him.
Petey
Then came time for Honey who just passed away less than 2 weeks ago. We only knew Honey because she was a resident of DogBlogville but we loved seeing her in all her outdoor adventures, loving life with her very own 2 leggers who obviously loved and cared for her very much.
Honey
All this has gotten Mom to reflecting on some of the furry 4 legged friends who she has been honored to live with over the course of her lifetime.
The first one that came to live with her and became her best friend as a little girl was Whiskers. Pappy carried this little black and gray tiger striped kitten home one day from the neighboring farm in his shirt pocket. He knew once Mom and her sister saw him, Grandma would be powerless to say no. He lived for a very long time and put up with Mom's determination to turn him into a baby doll.
Whiskers
Then there was Herbie. Mom's sister bought him for a boy she was dating but much to Mom's delight, he was not able to keep him so Herbie was given to Mom. This was Mom's first rodent and it never occurred to her to be scared of him. He was a loveable fella and she took him to school several times for show and tell over the course of her elementary school years. He lived to be about 6 years old which is good for a pigger.
Herbie
Then came Puff, another hand-me-down from Mom's sister. Mom can't remember the details but somehow she came to live with Mom, Grandma and Pappy. She does remember that she came sometime after Mom's sister moved out of her apartment and got married. Puff was a unique cat who had 6 toes on her left front paw.
Puff
Then Mom, Grandma and Pappy moved to a new house. This house already had a dog kennel which of course gave Mom ideas of getting a dog to fill it. About this time her sister bought a Golden Retriever named Jessie and mentioned there was one male left in the litter. It didn't take long till Buck was calling that kennel home. (Although he was much happier living inside the house with his pack of 2 leggers). He lived there for 7 years when he suddenly became ill and died while at the vet office. She never knew what happened but suspected he had possibly eaten some poison at a neighboring farm.
Buck
Even though Buck was still living, the opportunity came that Mom could buy a horse named Lacy from a friend, an appaloosa she had ridden on several times. She had no clue what she was getting into but she bought her anyway. After Lacy had a foal, she came to live at the "next door" neighbor's farm that Mom rented a stable from. It didn't take Lacy long to figure out she had a rookie for a rider and she was more than Mom knew what to do with. She even threw Mom off in a field one day (which Grandma never knew till years later 'cuz Grandma never wanted her to get Lacy in the first place). Then Mom met Dad and it came time for them to get hitched and she sold Lacy. She admits that it was probably one of the hardest days of her life (the selling of Lacy-not the hitching to Dad). She says it just didn't feel right selling a pet.
Lacy
Mom was itching for a dog from the time she got married but had no luck convincing Dad. Then one day he was out in the fields and found Grits-the smiling face you see in my sidebar. I won't go into the details again but if you'd like to read about him, just click on his name.
During the time that Grits lived here, another co-worker of Mom's put a sign on the board one day that said "Free to Good Home-2 Guinea pigs", all accessories included. Long story short, Mom convinced Dad she needed them and Shadow and Smore came to live here. Shadow lived here about a year when she died of respiratory problems and then Smore (aka: Miss Piggy) lived another 2 years alone in her guinea pig apartment. It was during this time that Grits traveled the Rainbow Bridge. A few months later is when I came to live here. I was just a pup then and was curious about Miss Piggy but learned early on that she was off-limits to me.
I told you this was going to be long, but in reality it is short considering the amount of time that Mom spent with each one and the unique memories she will carry with her forever. The funny part of it is, as different as each one of them was-they all had one thing in common. All were faithful and loving companions, never asking for more than their basic needs of food and water. Anything else was a bonus.
Chester's Mom: Not to take anything away from our human relationships, but why do you 4 legged, furry critters mean so much to us and it hurts so bad when you are gone?
Chester: It is the unconditional love that is offered by us and the fact that we live in the moment. We don't hold grudges, we don't judge each other, and we don't whine and complain about "what the other dawgs have". We all have "issues" but we learn to adjust and work with them. We try to do the job we were meant to do and leave it at that. And if we have to work together we all pull our own weight. We have figured out that life is way too short to not enjoy every minute. Come to think of it, you 2 leggers could learn alot from us dawgs.
Chester's Mom: I guess that's why we tend to live longer, we just need more time to figure that out.
Chester: Hallelujah! I think the light bulb over your head is getting brighter!
Woofs and loving slobbers,
Chester and Mom
Pee. Ess.
I am happy to report that Tucker's pack now has another lab named Bosley who was rescued from a shelter.
Petey's pack has rescued a Yorkie named Murray-who never had a name because his first 4 years he lived in a puppy mill.
And last but certainly not least-Zeus's family is about to travel to China to welcome a small 2 legger into their pack.
So for those of you who have recently lost a loved one-2 or 4 legged, your heart will heal and when it does, another compartment will open up and be ready start again the wonderful process of loving.
;0=)
