Today I am writing this blog post as a means of personal therapy. I have always wanted my blog site to be a positive and happy place for people to visit, so I’m going to try and keep with that vibe despite the extreme sadness and heartache I am experiencing right now.
We lost our beloved dog Sophie last night after 12 years of life on this earth. This pic of her above is with our firstborn, Jack back in 2006. She was 4 years old in this picture and of course had to be included because she was also a family member!
She was my first “baby” before Scott and I had human children. We got her after 1 year of being married. I remember the first day we brought her home and being in the car after getting her, weeks old, sitting so tiny in a blanket on my lap and thinking, “WHAT have we done?? Can we seriously take care of this little fur life?? I can barely keep plants alive!” It was exciting, thrilling, and scary all at the same time. It made me feel like Scott and I were real parents because dogs require so much love, attention, and guidance (hello teaching them how to pee outside and not in the house! Not easy).
Yet despite all of the work dogs are, they are so loyal and never hold grudges which is the best part of owning an animal. They forgive and forget better than any human on this earth. They are seriously the ultimate friend. I wavered back and forth on including this next picture my husband took in the car ride to the emergency vet last night when we knew she was in trouble. But now that I’ve got it, I’m glad I have this last memory before we she was hooked up to a bunch of machines.
She was still alive but so calm and just let me hold her which was actually very unlike her spunky self. Usually car rides meant panting, slobbering, looking out the window, and lots of pacing around the seat. But this time was different and I kind of knew in my heart what was about to go down. After hours of IV fluids and oxygen to see if we could bring her back, the vet called to say she wasn’t going to make it due to kidney failure. She actually waited to take her last breath literally a minute after Scott and I got back to say our goodbyes. She went on her own without any intervention from the vet, which in a way, made things a little bit easier that she did this on her own time.
She was the sweetest dog to our entire family and has definitely left her paw print on our hearts. I just hope this heartache and emptiness gets easier as the time passes without her here in the house. I’m trying my hardest to figure out how to celebrate her life and not mourn her passing, but that’s not easy right now.
Have you ever lost a pet? Please share the secret to getting over the loss of an animal – I need all the help I can get right now!
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