And Then There Were Two

I remember when the movie Marley and Me came out a few years ago.  It was a movie that I did not want to see in the theater because I knew it was going to make me cry and cry and cry.  So when it finally came out on DVD, I rented it knowing full well it was going to pull at my heartstrings and it did.  I couldn't even finish the whole movie because I knew how it was going to end.  Back then, the thought of losing either one of my dogs was just unbearable to think of. 

That was only about 4 years ago.  That was before my son was born.  That was when my dogs were 7 and 8.  We had raised them since they were both puppies and from that time on, we had been a family of four.  That is when our dogs were our kids.


My son is only a bit older than three and a half now.  When he was 20 months old, we lost his father.  Almost exactly a year later, we lost our male dog.  And last week, we lost our female dog.  It is amazing how drastic life can change in just a short period of time.  Our once family of five, is now only a family of two. 

Skye... My dog Skye was the absolute cutest puppy.  I wish I had digital pictures to upload, but I didn't even have a digital camera back when we got her almost 11 years ago.  We had already had our male dog, so we brought him to meet all the puppies.  Of course we picked out the one that pestered him the most.  But, they were like peas and carrots.  She loved him and followed him around like he was a rock star.  He treated her like a little sister, lol. 

Skye had a personality.  She was a bit crazy, she would bark at... nothing.  We also used to think that we had clones of her swarming around the house.  She would be everywhere.  You would go into one room and she'd be in there, turn around and go the another and there she'd be as if she had been there all along.  She kept great company and she was such a loyal dog.  She used to finish fights that her brother would instigate.  She even sat with my husband and woke him with her kisses one day when he banged his head in the garage and knocked himself out.  She loved to be loved.  And she was and she will be missed so very much.

This past Saturday, I drove back to my parents so that I could attend my grandmother's funeral.  I was dreading going back for that reason, but also because it had only been two days since Skye had to be put down as well.  There was an empty silence at my parent's house that made me extremely sad.  When I opened the door, I half expected and half hoped to hear her greet us with her bark.  She always greeted my son with plenty of kisses and he would always say, "No more licking Skye!"  But instead, I had to explain to my son why Skye wouldn't be at my parent's house and why we would never see her again. 

Skye's illness was completely unexpected as was her death.  It may have been cancer that caused a rapid digression in her liver, in may even have been hepatitis.  The doctor's were never 100% sure of what caused her liver to fail so quickly.  I do know that my parent's did everything they could to get her healthy, but she just didn't.  So now she joins her father and brother in Heaven.  There is a wonderful book by Cynthia Rylant entitled, "Dog Heaven."  I only read this book several years ago in Barnes and Noble and had to walk out of there with tears down my face.  Like I said before, just the thought... now it is my reality.

My Skye...

Helping me pack.  She was with us for 5 of our moves.

 

 

 

 

Before our son, we used to send pictures of the dogs on our Christmas cards.

 

 

We did this to the dogs too.  Skye actually enjoyed it.

Yes, she is sitting with a guinea pig, two actually.  I had them for class pets and she treated them like pups!

My girl <3

 

 

A Double Punch to the Kidneys
A Walk in the Past