Tomorrow...

I don't think I have been up this late in a VERY long time. I can't sleep tonight. Tomorrow Chris and I are going to have to say good-bye to one of our babies. I don't think I have ever spoke of my 3 beautiful blond furry "sons". Willie, Gus and Dusty on here. Willie and Gus are Golden Retrievers and Dusty is a Cocker Spaniel. Dusty is an old man. He is a ripe old age of 16 in human years. That puts him right around 100 in dog years. He has been showing his age more and more lately. He is in pain from arthritis in his back and hips. We just can't let him keep being in pain like this. So we have made the hard decision to do what is right for him. What I don't I understand is that if it is so right why are we so upset?

Our dogs had been our "babies" for six years. They have been through so much with us. Especially through our wait for Lily to come home. I can't believe this time has come.

Dusty came to live with us 3.5 years ago. Before that he lived with Chris's mother when she could no longer deal with his aging and was going to put him down. Chris and I asked that if instead of that if could he just come to live with us. Chris and I figured that we could give him a better existence until it was time. We were told that he probably wouldn't live more then a few months. We were also told that he couldn't hear, or see, and pee'd all over the house. I will tell you that the only thing that had wrong was that he would (and still will have) accidents in the house. They have become multiple times a day now. But he can hear and see w/out problem. HA he proved that wrong! He has thrived here with his 2 big-little brothers! They all became a pack, and Dusty just fit right in with it. He has done well with the addition of our non-furry children. Even though we haven't had the same amount of time for them.

Tonight Chris gave him a good bath. We normally take him to PetSmart to keep hair in check. But the pain is so great in his back anymore I just wouldn't have been a treat for him, like it had been in the past. We then treated Dusty is a double dose of his pain meds, Chocolate, and Pizza! Now before you think we lost our minds you have to understand that Dusty LOVES chocolate. We never give it to him.. he seeks it out!! In fact there is a story of Dusty eating 4 candy bars (this was in his prime mind you), and his one passion in life is Pizza! Chris told me tonight that it is funny that we were giving him some tonight because this was the first table food he had when they brought him home.

We have been talking to Lily about Dusty going to be with Jesus, and that he is going to be all better and will be able run around. We keep it to what we think a 2 year old can comprehend. She will say 'bye Dusty' and Jes (that is her Jesus). So tonight while we were waiting for Chris to get home work I was talking to her more about tomorrow, and she started saying her 'bye Dusty'. So I them told her that Daddy was going to be sad tomorrow and that we have to be nice to him. She then looks at me and says "boo boo's", and I said yes Daddy is going to have Boo boo's on his heart. When he got home you know that baby went over to him and said "Boo boo's heart" and then proceeded to kiss him the general area of his heart. Like she was trying to kiss away his Boo Boo. Chris just hugged her for what seemed like forever.

I know that I should wrap this and go to bed but I just don't want to even think about tomorrow, let alone do anything that is going to bring it here faster. To make matters worse, Dusty isn't the only dog that our family will be saying good-bye to. In the next week my parents plan to take the other old man in for the same thing. Ivan is my family dog, he is only a year younger then Dusty. I guess for Chris and I it is like saying good-bye to the last thing that tied us to our adolescence. Dusty and Ivan are great together. They truly are like old men when they get together. At least they will each have a buddy in Heaven.

Honestly I don't want to do this, and there is no way that we would except that we know he is in great deal of pain. We walks circles around the house crying until he can finally settle in. I guess I should try find some how to be grateful that we are able to do this for him and set him free of this pain. Our boy sigh... Please keep us in good thought tomorrow.

Megan



Dusty



The Old Men