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Vicki Monroe's SpiritBlog Archive September 6, 2007 This may come as a surprise, and rightly so, I guess. A lot of people have said to me over the years, "You are so lucky that you know that all souls are okay, and that they don't suffer." Yes, that's true. However it doesn't mean we I cry when someone dear to us is suddenly gone. In 2000, on an impulse, I traveled with my mother and kids to Thomaston, Maine in search of a yellow lab. My husband had been going through a lot of stress and I felt he needed a best friend, the kind of friend only a dog can bring. After a 3 hour drive and getting lost twice I met Emily and her huge litter of beautiful yellow labs. We were told to enter the backyard and see which one would love to come home with us. “How about all of them?”, I thought? Their big brown eyes were so sweet, and, as could be seen by their fat little tummies, these were well cared for and very beautiful dogs. I couldn't decide. Neither could my mom, nor my kids. After all this dog would be for my husband, and have to be just right, so after much patting and playing, I decided to go and sit on her deck, my kids in toe. We thought maybe the dog that is meant to be ours will just come over and see us. It wasn't a minute before a puppy spotted us that we had not seen yet. She had been napping in the garage and slowly poked her head out. She stood out from the rest because of her white color, I pointed to the puppy and the kids watched her saunter over, her belly moving side to side. She looked at us the entire time, until she was right at my knee, kissed it once, and sat on my foot. That was it... She was ours! I told Emily of our choice and a week later I brought Dolly home. My husband was working, so we brought her upstairs and tied a big pink ribbon on her neck, asking my husband to run upstairs for something I really needed. He looked miffed but up he went. Much to his surprise our daughter, Amelia, had his beautiful new baby in her arms. He cried, and the tears of joy over this wonderful dog never stopped. She was such a bright spot in our lives. So different than our other two labs, I nicknamed her “Dahli Lama”. She could look at you, and she knew your thoughts and feelings, especially my husband’s. She was indeed his dearest and most loving friend. We cherished our dogs, and life went on as our kids grew up and went off to college. On this past Labor Day, my husband and second oldest son went for a ride around the beach, noting all the quiet after a busy tourist season. Abut an hour later my husband received several calls from my daughter. Dolly was paralyzed. No one knew how, or why, perhaps a blood clot had ruptured in her spine. We may never know, except that she was in terrible pain and couldn't walk. We rushed her to the emergency room where they examined her for 24 hours. We brought her home, thinking that being at the farm where she had been swimming not three days prior and running after tennis balls with her brother and sister might give her the feeling that she could heal. The hope in her eyes was there, but the will of her body was not. My husband made the call, and we took our lovely girl to the vet, the same vet that had always taken care of her, and she was put gently to sleep. My husband’s tears were heartbreaking. I still feel his pain even now. We buried her with our other passed animals in the back field near the olive trees. It was so sudden, and for her, looking into her eyes we knew she was telling us, "I am sorry, I have to leave you now". She was sad for us. I knew she was okay with what was happening. She was feeling the sadness that was deep in our hearts. We will always love her, and remember the joy she brought to others and to our family. I asked my family and my husband’s family that have passed as well as our other beloved animals to meet her and take her home. I know that they did. They will be able to love her now the way we did. We love you, Dolly. And now you can run and play with all your old friends who have been waiting. We will remember you always. And, thank her for being apart of our lives. In Light, Vicki This website and text copyright © 2007, 2008 Vicki Monroe. All rights reserved.

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