Sandy

We are still working on e-mail and adding links. Mom has been working long hours this week because of people on vacation. She did, however, write the next installment about her dogs.

My human sister will be here next Wednesday, I can't wait. If your reading this D, I love you.

We made our move to the city to be closer to services as needed. We had found a home for our dog, Cookie. We had one child and I was expecting another.

We lived in a second floor tenement. The landlord was not happy we had any children and it would be several months before she would know I was expecting another. By the time our lease was due for renewal, my son had been born. The landlord had no complaints about us as tenants but did not want to renew to a family with two children

We found another place to live and on the first floor to boot. They didn’t mind that we had children but it wasn’t long before they started to complain about toys on the front and only porch. We desperately wanted to save up a down payment for a place of our own.

That problem was solved when my husband brought home a stray dog. We were told to move or get rid of the dog. My husband said we would move. The problem was where.

We searched the ads every day. I began looking at homes to buy thinking maybe we could borrow the down payment. We were getting desperate.

One morning, there it was. House for sale. No down payment. Owner financing. Did we dare even think about it? We took the plunge. The owner was anxious to move and we looked pretty desperate to them. The deal was made. We moved in, two kids and a Cocker Spaniel named Sandy.

We knew nothing about the dog. The vet examined her and guessed her to be 3 or four years old. She was a bit snappy with strangers, especially heavy- set men, including my father and grandfather. However, she loved the babies.

She got over her snappiness and we took her everywhere. We couldn’t afford to put her in a kennel so she went on vacations with us. We did a lot of camping. She never wandered off, loved to ride and would share a sleeping bag with anyone who would let her.

As the years went by we realized she no longer came running when we got out the car keys. The vet confirmed that she was deaf. She also had glaucoma and finally went almost completely blind. She had a bad heart and was on heart medication for several years.

When she developed a tumor, the vet said her heart was so bad she would not survive the operation. This was the first time I was faced with making a decision to put an animal to sleep. I did so reluctantly, knowing it was the best thing I could do for her. She had been a member of the family for as long as the children could remember. We estimated her age to be about sixteen years of age. I cried all the way home. How would I tell the children? They were sad but they were old enough to understand I had no choice. We were dog less again but not for long.

Today's quote is by Kablil Gibran about saying good=bye.

" Love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation."