The End of a Chapter

I once heard it said that one of the wonderful things about having pets as a part of your family is that they help you to divide your life into chapters. I think that is so true.

Keeper joined our family at Christmas 9 years ago. We still had 3 young boys and her arrival was so exciting for us all. A highlight of our kids' younger years for sure!

She was right there with us as these boys turned into teenagers with so many lessons along the way. And love. Always love.

The next picture was to be our Christmas card photo this year. As you can see, those young boys have grown into young men. I think maybe we'll just skip the card this year. Some years are better than others and that's okay, another important lesson in life.

Yesterday, we had to say goodbye to our sweet girl. She had been slowing down a bit in recent weeks, but at first we chalked that up to old age, while quietly hoping she'd rally - we've had 2 goldens before, this wasn't our first time at this rodeo. But that doesn't make it any easier. This past weekend, it began to be apparent that something was very wrong - she was lethargic and not as interested in her food. We gave her lots and lots of love. We all just knew. Yesterday was the hardest day in any dog owner's journey with their dog.

Keeper's favorite thing to do was swim. In our backyard pool, in the lake and the creeks upstate - she was a magnet to water. She could dive to the bottom of our pool and retrieve lacrosse balls. She provided so many hours of entertainment for us with that trick! And she loved to soar off the diving board into the pool. This is what I imagined she did yesterday, free of pain and soaring off.

Thanks for the wonderful memories, sweet girl! You will be so missed.

And thank you friends, once again, for following along on our journey. Posts like this are so hard to write, but I know that through this blog, some of your have come to know and care about our dogs too. xoxo

Note: For other dog owners who are wondering, she developed a hemangiosarcoma on her spleen, which is never a good prognosis and their health usually deteriorates very rapidly, as was the case with Keeper.