A Joyful Keeper

Yesterday I was driving down our driveway, on my way to go shopping, when Chewie ran under the car….and I ran over him. There was no warning, nothing I could do. He just miscalculated and ended up under my back wheel. Thankfully it was over quickly and my dh was there as well. He dug a hole and we buried him in the garden.

My emotions in the morning were anger (as dh said, if Chewie hadn’t have died, he would have yelled at him for running under the car..!), and then resignation. Daniel and Elizabeth were in tears and very upset. Matt was upset, but he isn’t as attached to the animals as the others are. In the afternoon it really hit me and I cried for the rest of the day.

It’s a strange thing, really. I love all animals, but dogs are special. They love you unconditionally. They have a look in their eyes when they look at you - of love and adoration. And Chewie was so sweet, even though he was often naughty too. Having a pet die is sad. But I can’t even imagine what it would be like to lose a child or a loved one. Yesterday afternoon I just wanted to hold my children tight and tell them I loved them.

While the tears flowed freely yesterday, joy comes in the morning and today we are still sad, but not crying. I will miss his little cuddles, his long tongue that tried to lick me all the time, and his puppy dog eyes. The memories will remain….

Just a puppy…

His usual pose, with his tongue hanging out:

About to chase the stick….

Goodbye little guy….

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 6th, 2008 at 8:18 pm and is filed under This and That. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.