Thank you all for taking the time to offer condolences and prayers, especially those who have suffered a similar loss. It means a lot that so many would reach out, even if just to type a few words offered in kindness.
It's been a rough month. The holidays weren't easy.
I believed myself prepared for the eventuality. The cancer thing in 2015 was bad, thought I was going to lose her then. But she beat it for damn near 7 years, which is unheard of with stage IV cancer. Those years were a blessing, and we had many conversations about her leaving this world before me. She figured the cancer would come back and wanted me to be ready for it.
I wasn't.
Yesterday, I got up before sunrise so I could drop our new puppy off at the vet to get spayed. We were going to breed her with our red tri-color male, but there's no way I can look after a litter of puppies now. The dogs are home alone for 11-12 hours while I'm working. Those two took to each other like peas and carrots, as Forest would say, and that makes me smile every time I see them together. Puppies or no, they're mates now. I came home and got the red beans and sausage cooking. Went back to town and picked her up in the afternoon. She was a little groggy, and didn't eat much, slept with me last night. She's outside with the others now, back to normal.
We drove to Fort Cobb, OK to buy this pup on 9/27. 1056 mile round trip. It was our last adventure together. We got one more camping/woodcutting trip to our mountain property after that then settled in for winter.
Anyway, I'm rambling. I don't really know why I posted about my situation here. I'm a private guy, usually keep myself to myself. Something prompted me to. Maybe it was Victoria.
Again, thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.
Shaun
