The Worst Week Ever.......... Fairwell to a Friend

This past week has truly been one of the worst weeks of our lives. To start things off, on Monday evening Bam Bam (our beloved dog of 14 years) began to get sick. He wasn't eating or drinking. By Tuesday morning he couldn't stand up. We rushed him to our veterinarian. She diagnosed him with kidney failure. She recommended that we "put him to sleep" as there was nothing that could be done considering his age and other pre-existing ailments. We took him home and contemplated what to do. We decided to give him some time to see if he would go on his own. If he survived until Thursday, we'd take him then. I spent all of Wednesday morning and afternoon holding him. He was deteriorating quite rapidly and I knew he wouldn't make it to Thursday. Darrin held him when he got home for 3 hours. At around 7:25 p.m. he took his final breath in Darrin's arms. I was so glad that he went on his own terms and that he was home with us.

While Darrin and Garrett prepared his grave I just held him...savoring every last second with him. He has been a part of our lives since December 15, 1991. Darrin and I "adopted" him only one month after we were married. For five and one half years he was our only "child" and we treated him as such. He spent every night of his life cuddled up with me under the covers. How on earth would I sleep now? As Darrin entered the room I knew it was time...time to let him go for good. We prepared him a coffin out of a large Tupperware container. We laid him on his favorite blanket (that he had had for ten years) and placed his favorite toy beside him. He looked so peaceful. I couldn't bear to watch them bury him though.

My plans for Tuesday and Wednesday were to finish our laundry, pack for our trip to WV, and bake cookies to take in to family. Since Bam Bam was way more important than any of that, I would spend Thursday catching up....I thought. At 10:30 a.m. Thursday morning our power went off. Our area suffered a severe ice storm in the early morning hours and this was the result. The storm claimed one of our huge Bradford pear trees in our front yard. It just split into four pieces and was laying in our front yard. Our other Bradford pear lost a huge limb, but will hopefully survive. We spent Thursday huddled around the fireplace in our living room. We did find out that our boys would have made terrible pioneer children. They were bored within the first five minutes. By 9:00 p.m. our power had still not been restored. We packed by candle light and headed north to Darrin's mom's in NC (with dirty laundry and no baked goodies). We arrived shortly after midnight and found warms beds waiting on us. But, all I could think about was Bam Bam all alone underneath the ice covered ground. Payton lovingly wrapped his arms around me and said the best thing anyone could have possibly told me..."You know what mommy? I bet Bam Bam is spending the night on Papaw Otis' lap up in heaven." That was precious. Although I highly doubt that pets actually do make it to heaven, just the thought of it was comforting.

We made it to WV on Friday night and we're still here. We're enjoying time with family and celebrating Christmas a little early with them. We're hoping the week that lies ahead will be much better than last week. We'll head back south in a few days to clean up our yard, finally bake some cookies and look forward to Christmas morning. It is my sincere wish that each of you have a very Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year. Best wishes in '06.