Source: etsy.com via Emily on Pinterest
Next to God's love for us, the next most perfect love has to be the one that is shared between a dog and his Mom or Dad. I didn't say "Master" because that's not at all how I feel about my relationship to Shooter or Lucy. I'm their Mom. Sorry, husbands...we know you love us and we love you too, but this is different. This is 100% unconditional...all the time. This is giving them just a little piece of your heart and they give all of theirs to you.
My heart is extremely heavy right now because my my best friend lost her sweet Sadie Jane today (Thursday) after a difficult battle with a rare cancer. Sadie wasn't even 5 years old.
Shooter & Sadie back in 2007
I was only around Sadie a handful of times but I have cried almost like she was my own. I'm heartbroken for Greta and Russell. I've gone through this to an extent with Andrew's first hunting dog, Bailey. She wasn't "mine", but she certainly felt like family. We shared many wonderful memories at the farm and in Baytown. I cried buckets after she passed and on many occasions afterwards. She also died of cancer, but she was 10 or 11...certainly more in the "old" category than an almost 5-year old. I still think about her often and wonder how the duck hunting is in Heaven.
Bailey riding around the farm with us after we got engaged...she was no longer with us just five short months later.
Bailey was unbelievably loyal and the most incredible hunting dog. She didn't just fetch birds, she HUNTED. She LIVED for it. She also lived for any crumb she could manage from whatever we were eating.
Andrew wrote this incredible tribute after she died that, to this day, still brings me to tears.
Last Walk With an Old Friend
I recently took a walk with an old friend. Down to the lake we had walked to so many times before. I let her blaze the trail, one she had been down so many times before. She held her head so high and proud just like she always had, wagging her tail the whole way. As we walked she would occasionally stop and look back just to make she her good buddy was still there. We met by the lakeside and followed the tall levee along the north end. She now was in hunt mode, her wise old nose detecting every scent she came across. As she was hunting I thought about the numerous ducks she found along this levee. That was always her favorite part of the hunt. She would always bring back that one duck that crawled way behind the levee and bring it back almost saying, “You forgot one.”
We continued along the levee to the old duck blind. Here we sat together, her in her place and me in mine. The season wasn’t open yet but she didn’t care she was just happy to be with an old friend. Together we peered through the worn remains of last years brush and reminisced about old times. I thought about the hundreds of ducks my old friend had brought back to this blind and how happy she was to bring them in. Thankfully that early morning we were graced with a fast flight of little Bluewings. Her tailed wagged and my heart raced as we both enjoyed the beautiful sight. I was hard to think this was the last time she would get to hear the sound of beating wings. But I thank God that he graced us with those 6 teal that morning, for it made a memory my old friend and I will never forget.
We left the blind and walked back up to the farmhouse together. This was hard because for the first time in her life I could see her slow down. That pep in her step and that excited look in her eyes were slowly fading away. She always had the energy of a puppy all the way up to her 11th season, but that morning she was tired as she very well deserved to be for she had a long happy life.
We walked into the farmhouse together and she walked across the kitchen floor, her claws clicking across the floor. This always served as the morning alarm; she always knew when it was time to get up. Across the kitchen floor she went and she took her place at the foot of the couch. This was her favorite place for it would be cool in the summer and warm in the winter for my old friend. She then fell asleep and rested.
My old friend and I spent our last night together the next day. For in the morning she would be put to sleep. I slept on the floor next to her holding her in my arms. I cried and told her I loved her.
We fell asleep that night trying to think of the good times we had together. But before I faded away to sleep that night I prayed. I prayed that she would dream, dream a beautiful dream, about her and an old friend.
Bailey was put to sleep the morning of August 28, 2006 after a 2 month long battle with cancer. We will always remember her and the memory she left us. We will all miss you Bailey Girl may you rest in peace.
©Andrew Peters, Baytown, Texas – August 2006
I can't even imagine the day when Shooter or Lucy crosses that Rainbow Bridge. They are my my babies. They are my "black babies" as we jokingly call them.
I've heard some people only want one {real} child because they don't think they could ever love another child as much as they already have. They worry their love will be divided, not multiplied. I guess the same goes for people with adopted and biological children. Well, Lucy has proven that to be a bunch of crap. Lucy wandered into our lives at Christmas 2008 and never left.
Goofy, skinny girl the day she found us
I didn't think we could ever have TWO dogs that we loved equally. We do. They are so different and have opposite personalities, but there are so many things we love about each one. If I had to drop them into buckets, Shooter is like a 1st child or a biological child and Lucy is the 2nd child or the adopted child...BUT, it's never mattered. We never game them those labels. Yes, Shooter was in our lives 1st and from a very young age, but Lucy has entered and just made our little family so much better. Okay, we did call her our little "street hooker" because she was a stray and had this whole other life for a year or so before she found us. Someday when we're both up in Heaven, she'll fill me in on the details of her previous life. We look back and don't even really remember when she wasn't here. She has kept Shooter {and all of us} "young" and her goofy and always excited personality just lights up a room. Lucy means "Light." That's exactly what she is. Andrew jokingly throws out different adjectives for me to guess which dog he's talking about. It's the easiest game on the planet.
Loyal - Shooter
Goofy - Lucy
Stubborn - Shooter
Snuggle Munster - Lucy
Soft Licker - Lucy
Rough Licker - Shooter
Begger - Shooter
Nut Job - Lucy
Sweet - Lucy
Needy (in terms of attention) - Shooter
"Magoosey" - Lucy
Tough - Shooter
Gray - Shooter
Goober - Lucy
Hunter - Shooter
Lover of the Flippety Flopper - Lucy
Crazy - Lucy
Lazy - Shooter
Let them be dogs...
Hug them tight, give them table scraps, and let them sleep on the bed every now and then...
They are never with us long enough...
In Memory of Bailey and Sadie...and all the other pups that are waiting for their Moms & Dads on the other side of the Rainbow Bridge. Until we meet again...
