The Best Dog Ever
The following is a collection of my posts regarding the death of our much loved 11 1/2year old Border Collie, Lee Roy. People who have pets, and love those pets, understand. Those who don’t get it, I feel sorry for.
May 9, 2006
I don’t expect to write much in the next few days. Although in our heart of hearts it’s probably not much of a surprise, we have just found out that our Lee Roy is very ill. What we thought was a cut that wouldn’t heal is cancer, and it’s already very bad and now it makes sense. We’ve been starting to see unexplained signs of suffering – and that, we cannot allow. But we can do the kind thing for this creature we have lived with and loved for more than 11 years, even as it shatters our hearts. So, that’s what we’ll do and I’ll be back when I feel I’m ready to wax on about something other than the pain that overwhelms us right now.
May 11, 2006
Lee Roy Ellis-Brandt. January 1995 – May 2006. No dog was loved more or gave more love in return. We’ll miss him forever.
May 20th.
OK, so it’s going to be mostly a cool and damp long weekend. I think I would be miffed if it was a sunny, gorgeous day to spread Lee Roy’s ashes at one of the ponds on my Mom and Dad’s property, in the Niagara area. Somehow it would seem wrong to enjoy a glorious day for such a necessarily dark and difficult chore. It’s part of the healing process. Even the wee Beagle is traumatized by our experience of losing Lee Roy. Today we’ll take one more step toward healing ourselves.
Wray and I are comforted by the many emails we’ve been receiving from people known and unknown to us, who have suffered a similar loss of a four-legged family member. Neighbours have dropped by to offer their condolences about Lee Roy. It all helps. It’s still overwhelmingly painful, but it all helps. Thank you.
Everything changes. Wray has lost his “shadow”. The house is too quiet. Sammy the Beagle slept for more than 12 hours straight after we got home. We woke up in a fog, not knowing what to do. We know it will ease and we’ll eventually enjoy the happy memories. But knowing, and getting there, are two very different things.
May 21, 2006
Wray, Sammy and I and Lee Roy’s “Grandma”, my Mom, trekked out to Mom’s middle-of-three ponds on their 50 acre tract of land, said a few words, and let some of Lee Roy’s ashes blow in the wind across the water. Wray tossed in his last tennis ball – the only toy that captivated our Border Collie all his life. The cedar box that holds his ashes is now in a private place in our home and now I’m going to do my best to keep reminding myself how lucky we were to have him at all, instead of feeling so sorry that we no longer have him.
