I don’t really want to write this post, but here I am anyway. We said goodbye to Grace last Monday. She was such a fighter, so stubborn, sweet and loving until the very end, but life just got too hard for her. She got roasted chicken and chocolate and bacon treats, so much love and so many kisses – even our vet snuggled her and cried. Grace always loved people, so the vet was a fun place for her, and I’m so grateful that she was in a happy, loving environment at the end. It was heartbreaking but when we got home, I had such a strong feeling of peace and relief, relief that she wasn’t having to fight so hard anymore.
Of course, since then the grief has come and gone in spurts. The closest I can come to describing it is when your first kid moves away. You know it’s the right thing but there’s still that gap in the house, that feeling of something missing. I miss that healthy, naughty Grace — the one who jumped on the couch to greet us when we walked in the door, the one who loved to sleep on the back of the couch in front of the window, the one who would jump on our bed at every opportunity and just sprawl out for a good long snooze. I miss the snuggles — she was the absolute best at snuggles, laying in your lap or resting her head on your shoulder.
But there is a new simplicity that I’m beginning to appreciate. The morning pill routine is SO MUCH simpler now. We don’t have to worry about a counter-surfing dog stealing food. There’s no barking waking us up at 4 am or 5 am — something she’d done sporadically for years. Two dogs are just easier to handle than three, so I’m going to do my best to focus on that, and hope that the husband and I don’t have the urge to get another dog at the same time!
Thankfully, the other dogs seem to be okay. They were a little needy and clingy the first day or two but now they seem to have settled in. They hadn’t really interacted with Grace much the last few months anyway — she couldn’t play, and she tended to avoid them because they’d plow into her. And now they can get even more attention than before, which should make Duncan happy especially.
So. That’s that. We always know going into it that we’re going to have to say goodbye eventually but it always comes too soon. At least I know that Grace was fully loved for all the time we had her.