A Passing of A Loved One and Friend

Normally we do not write about things of a personal nature for a couple reasons:
1. There are so many wonderful things, ideas and experiences more noteworthy, in our opinion.
2. We really want this blog to be about positive ideas.

The reason this writing is a deviation from that is more about how it happened more than what happened.
Last night, we lost our friend, family member and loved one, Darby (or Stoopid as he was sometimes called in fun).

 

Marilyn and I of course thought Darby (or Stoopid depending on our mood and what he had done) was a great dog, friend and family member, as did his best friend Bob (the cat) and we all knew he was getting old (14 years which is rare for a Jack Russell purebred).

 

Here is Bob & Darby:

What made this special was how Darby (or Stoopid) decided to say goodbye!

For the most part, the day was like any other, we worked, until such a time where we decided it was time to stop and relax for an hour or so before bed.

The animals were acting as they always did (watching us work, under our feet, meowing demands and trying to sneak upstairs without us know ((they don't know that sound travels)):

Then, Darby jumps up on the couch and spends a lot of time traveling from Marilyn's lap to mine, stopping for a few minutes at each one to be petted and talked to. It was then we felt something was not right....he seemed slow and his eyes were not as bright. We both knew right away something was wrong, then it hit us and wow did that hurt....he was dying.  We spent the next two hours holding him, petting him and telling him what a good dog he was (which we always did but this time, wow, did those words and gestures really mean ring of so much truth). 

When Darby knew it was time, he walked to the back porch and laid down where there was a small cool breeze and Bob, his buddy. He laid down on his special blanket and went: where all good dogs go to Heaven.

What makes this special isn't that we lost a dog, or a pet or....what makes this special is our friend waited until we returned from a vacation, waited until all of his family members were there, gave us each the opportunity to say goodbye and then walked out to the back porch to go silently sleep, knowing he was loved and mostly, had given love.

Thank you Darby - We Love You - Ken, Marilyn & Bob