In memory of Ol' Faithful

Who said anything about spoiled?

Mark and the dogs

One of many trips to the creek

So if by the title and pictures you hadn't guessed; my black lab passed away. She was old and gray but just had just a little too much energy left in her old age. For years our dogs have been indoor pets and more like part of the family than animals... we even tend to talk to them at times. =D When we leave the house however we pen the dogs up or else Sweetie tends to go visiting the neighbors; well lately Houdini found she could jump the fence and do whatever she liked despite many scoldings. Try as we might to fix any place where she could possibly get out, she found a new way. At this point you may be wondering what any of this has to do with her death, well okay I'll get on with it. So yesterday we left for town and we got back home after dark to find that Sally was no longer in the pen and could only guess she had gone to the neighbors once again; but this morning after sleeping in, the first thing I hear is that Daddy found Sally. She had obviously tried jumping the fence and her hind leg got caught up really bad and she couldn't get out. This is a case, not of 'curiosity killed the cat,' but 'rebellion killed the dog.'  

This really brought certain parts of Ecclesiastes 3 home to me today. "To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven: 

a time to be born,

 and a time to die....

a time to weep,

 and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn,

 and a time to dance...

a time to gain, 

 and a time to lose."

I did a lot of commemorating this morning remembering all the good (and not so good) times we shared with her:

• picking her out from the breeder
  
• her sleeping under the air conditioner in the car as we drove home
  
• her squeezing out of the wholes in the fence (yes she was an escapee even as a puppy)
  
• her pulling me around and getting me lost in the woods  when I was no more than 7
  
• the excitement of watching her run when I ran and walk right beside me when I walked
  
• taking her on camping trips
  
• laughing at her and Buck as Sally retrieved sticks out in a lake and Buck would run up, steal it from her, and bring it to us
  
• hikes to the creek
  
• her making foot prints in our sled run every winter
  
• her face buried in snow while her tail wagged in the air
  
• her growling, running, and barking in her sleep
  
• her fear of coughing, gum bubbles popping, and thunder storms
  
• digging holes in our flower beds
  
• getting underfoot in the kitchen
• Sunday morning jogs with the dogs and Daddy
• and of corse jumping fences
  

I can certainly see where people got the idea for the saying "a dog is a boys best friend." =D

~Striving for Christ,

><>Marissa<><