Good Dog

There are some heavy hearts at the Blue House.

Saturday was our last day with our sweet dog, Jessie. She has blessed our home for the last five years by being our constant companion. She loved to sleep under the kids' feet while they did their school work, and I think it broke her heart earlier this year when she could no longer make it up the stairs to sleep with the kids.

Jessie came to us from Uncle Jim, and even that was her second home. So we're not sure of her age, but guess that she was over fifteen years. Thank you, Uncle Jim, Tookie, and Tres, for letting us have her. It wasn't supposed to be forever, but we couldn't part with her.

We've known for a while that the end was near, but it was still a shock when the vet said it was time. Her kidneys were failing and she had either developed or was developing bladder cancer. So we decided to make her last hours real special by breaking all the rules. We told the kids Friday night what was going to happen, and after all the initial tears were spent we treated Jessie to a bacon cheeseburger and fries from Five Guys. We played out in the front yard for a while and snapped some pictures. Then she had a little bowl of ice cream. That night she slept (at least part of the night) in a real bed, surrounded by her kids.

And now it just seems so wrong not to have her here. Thankfully we still have Jasper, but he's mopey too. We all loved Jessie. She was such a good dog.