good lesson

Clare,

This has been an interesting week.

We puppy-sat our oldest's dog...
brother of our puppy.
It is exhausting...
they have so much energy.
I haven't laughed this much in years.
They are either 100% on or fast asleep.
They played and played.
They ruined several perennial gardens...
but they were exploring and fully enjoying the sights, smells, tastes, and feel of the world...
a good lesson to learn.

On Saturday our old dog died very suddenly.
It was not unexpected...
she has been in heart failure for a while.
She has had two or three nights where her breathing was so labored I doubted she would survive until morning...
but she bounced back and seemed better the next day.
She took a half mile walk with us last week...
she wouldn't stay on the porch when we were taking the puppy for his walk...
I assumed I would carry her for most of the walk...
but she stayed with us almost the whole way.
She rode along for a pizza run this weekend.
She even ate pizza crusts Saturday evening...
one of her favorite treats...
before she died.
She collapsed, had a brief seizure, and then her breathing became agonal...
I picked her up and she died in my arms.
My youngest was there through it all.
He chose her 11.5 years ago...
wants to name her 'milkshake' ...
and then helped her leave the earthly realm.
He cried...
he really has such a good heart.

He is struggling with boredom and the transition...
he wants to move to the next step- college- NOW.
We had some very good talks this weekend.
I pray for him...
choices are really important...
setting boundaries for himself is really important...
he just doesn't know how to wait well.

I hope that you re having a wonderful Holiday week.
Love and Light beautiful sister,
Maggie