In Loving Memory

Thanks again for your peace and sympathy for our loss. It is by far the hardest decision we have ever made.

My husband wrote the following prose that night —

Dog Lessons

Ya know...there are lots of things dogs teach us. Probably the first and best thing is unconditional love. There is nothing like the tail wag and silly grin that you receive from your four legged friend when you come home! The bouncing joy of your pal, just happy to see you again!

Exercise. Come on, throw the ball! Or the way a dog perks up, jumps up when you say "let's take a walk"! Your dog is always ready and willing. And do you remember when your dog swam out to the canoe? How many times did he do that? Six or seven? Then helping him into the canoe, him shaking off, and soaking you, then leaping back into the lake! There is something there too about the joy of the moment.

Camping. Sometimes we would do it just to see how excited Hunter would get because we were "going camping"! Then there was the "happy dance" and the happy humpies!

I love you. The talking dog. The family that howls together stays together. The laughter that comes with that, priceless.

Shower time. After a long flight or a long time on the road, doesn't a shower feel just great! My dog reminded me about that too. The puppy came out in him after he had a bath! Dried as much as possible in the bathroom, he would come out and rub along and under the couch rim. And then there was the "post bath" tearing of the towel ritual! We always used an old towel because the bath always ended in a tug of war with a towel, and the towel was always the loser! Shredded towel everywhere! And just for the joy of it!

But they always seem to leave too soon! So I see in this the brevity of our own lives. And my dog reminds me to say "I love you" more, go camping and every once in a while, jump out of the canoe!

And in the end, learning about how to say "Good Bye" to a loved one. For the preparation in grief is yet one more thing my dog has taught me, that the time may be near for any one of us.

That's what a dog can do.

David