The First Funeral

I guess our family is doomed to continue to ride the roller coaster

we affectionately know as life.

Remember our sweet dog, Zoe?

The one, Kean used to chase around the house with his Harley?

The one Reese used to go out and read bedtime stories to?

(Please notice the title of that book:  "No Biting").

 The one Holland tucked in every single night

with a lullaby (usually outside).

 Our Zoe was with us before the children.  We

actually had her trained to fetch a clean diaper when Holland was a baby.

It was a beautiful thing....

She's sure gone down hill though the past few days.

We even had to tie a rope around her since she started wandering off.

Friday night we heard howling and found her clear down in the middle

of the neighbor's pasture-- lost and too weak to walk back.

Holland spent the night sleeping next to her on Saturday.

And we were all surprised Zoe made it through the night.

 Then the three girls bedded down beside her last night.

And once again, she somehow survived.

But at nearly fifteen, it was her time.

We had the one Vet in town who makes house calls

come out to the place and quietly put her to sleep this evening.

Grandpa Bodily was there-- he gave each of the girls a

beautiful rose for the grave.

Greer wrote and sang a tribute song--

and other than buckets of tears, the girls were pretty brave.

Holland (and Byron) will have the hardest time with her being gone.

It will sure be strange and sad without her around

but she was so old and so tired.

Let's hope we all get some rest before we go to Anthony's funeral tomorrow.

Clearly, we should have invested in a larger supply of Kleenex.

p.s.  Saint Dee (my mom) is taking Kean to his big Chemo

appointment so I can go to the funeral with the girls.

That was a really hard decision as to where I was needed most.

What would I do without my mum!