by Rosalie Cool
My dearest little poo, I hope you understand. Somehow I believe you do and approve.
That makes me and your Daddy very happy.
You were the sweetest baby anyone could ever have. You were never a dog to us, you
were our daughter! You were so beautiful with those huge brown eyes and your lovely
thick white fur with black spots. I think the term Parti-colored Cocker was coined for
you. We miss you so much! Even your cat-sister, Maria misses you.
I will never forget the day we saw you at the animal shelter. Actually, Daddy spotted you
in a section that said, “Not Ready for Adoption Yet”. We couldn’t even get close to your
cage, but we went to ask when you would be ready. And lo and behold, God smiled at us
that day, because they said they had held you for someone who had not shown up and we
could take you. We couldn’t believe our good fortune.
Even with you hair dirty and matted in places and covered with fleas, you were the
sweetest thing we had ever seen. I couldn’t imagine how you had come to the pound.
When we asked, they said you were left in a night drop. So I guess we will never know.
But we sure were glad you were there and I know you were glad we found you. It was
love at first site on both sides.
We had you for 12 wonderful years and you were probably 2 or 3 when we got you. So I
guess that is a pretty good life span for you, but it was too soon for us. Anytime would
have been too soon. You were always so sweet and so loving and so gentle. Even when I
had to trim, bathe, clean your big floppy ears and other things you didn’t really like, you
were so good and patient.
The first year we had you and you disappeared just before Christmas, we were
devastated. We looked and put out flyers and prayed and then 2 days later we found you
in the giant hole in front of the apartment. We were so ecstatic! We didn’t want
anything else for Christmas. We had our Christmas Poo!
But as you got older and your eyes started to fail and your hearing and then you became
stiff, even with medicine. And finally you couldn’t see or hear at all and were so
confused and lost, and fell several times; we knew it was time to let you go.
We were so heart sick the day we took you to the vet’s to let you go to a “better place”.
We stayed with you while they gave you the shot and saw you go to sleep for the last time
on this Earth. I couldn’t tell you how upset we were, but we knew we did the right thing.
I know you are waiting for us! We can’t wait to see you either. I bet we have more
pictures of you than most people have of their human children!
That was in February. We had no plans to get another furry baby. Maybe we would have
later, but not anytime soon. Then in April, another little furry doll living in a bad home
was offered to us. She was very sweet and cute, but we didn’t think we were ready to
take another little fur ball to love yet. But, we didn’t feel we could let her stay in her
current home situation. So we took her home. If you were here, you would love her
(except when she got in your food).
At first we felt guilty. We named her Pebbles, but often we would slip and call her
Sugar. Then we would really feel guilty. We would also call her some of you “pet”
names like, poo, pooley, sinkwitch, sinky, etc.. That wasn’t because she was you, but
because of the lasting place in our hearts you had made that will always be there. No one
could be you, or take your place.
So we are all getting used to each other. Even, prissy, aloof Maria has decided she is
OK. Not great, but OK. But Doc, the cockatiel, doesn’t care much for her, probably
because she thinks he is a feathered toy.
But I have begun to understand that you would want us to share our love and our home.
You aren’t alone and don’t want us to be either. You have all your new friends at
Rainbow Bridge to play with. And now you can run and jump and see and hear. I know
you will see us when we come across that bridge and you will see you little sister,
Pebbles, the Yorkie, Maria and Doc too. Then we can all be together and kiss and play
and love forever.
Love forever,
Mommy and Daddy