It Never Seems To Get Easier

Losing a pet is almost just as bad as losing a loved one, a family member, a close friend because a pet is all of those listed. Our dog Lilly this morning will be put to sleep after a long battle with cancer.

It's hard to imagine that the same cancer that plagues humans from all over the world plages animals same level also. Lilly was diagnosed in February with Lymphoma and given good reports, and those good reports were given to the right dog. She lasted longer than the odds gave her, she still had time to get herself into mischief and trouble, still took off with her brother Indy for a jaunt in the woods to hunt down a groundhog. She had fight, and she fought it.

Pets in this household are part of the family. They are talked about at the dinner table, treated daily we snacks and leftovers, loved immesly, and are always on top of things. (The couch being one of them, but I was referring more to the idea that they have a heads up on everything going on around here.)

Lilly was only with us for a short time, about four years, but four years is enough time to get attached. She came to us a stray, abused, and overly-shy to come near anyone with a hand, even if it was streched open with welcoming love. She moved into the dogbox outside, then slowly into the house on the floor with her blanket, then to the couch, and then to the beds when she was given the chance. Her course and matted fur turned into silk from the frequent bathing she recieved because of her favorite hobby- finding "substances" to roll in that were extremly offensive to the nose.

This is only the second dog that has been put down in my lifetime that was apart of the family. There have been cats, some old, some young, but the dogs seem like "top dogs" around here. The first pet was Scooter, who also had a battle with cancer. I recall calling my best friend up as a child bawling my eyes out as my mother drove over to the Vet. I didn't want to see him go. In a way it is easier this time because I can be more mature about the issue, it was her time to go, she was suffering, and she'll be in a better place.

Of course there is the long-standing debate about heaven for pets. Some say there is no such thing because pet's don't have souls but I refuse to believe this and in a child-like wishing manner I do believe that when I see the pearly gates that I will see wagging tales too because heaven just wouldn't be heaven without them. God cares for pets, in Jonah it speaks of his care for the cattle when Jonah is stubborn about spreading God's Word to the Ninevites. God replied with a stern yet compassionate response.

"But the LORD said, "You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?"

It's comforting to know she will be in a better place, at rest, and not hurting and suffering like she has been for the past several weeks. Yet all of those reasons seem to leave one's mind when tears fill your eyes when you see the empty spot and you cease to hear the bark. Childish it may seem, I don't care. I will miss my dog.

This is my tribute to her.

Lilly, I love you and I'll miss you.