Melon-Collie

Ben told a joke this evening - what do you get when you cross a cantelope and a puppy?  A Melon Collie.  The he said, "There is an air of melancholoy over this house tonight."  He's right - this afternoon we said goodbye to our best first 'child,' our 17-year old mutt Zoey.  We adopted her as a puppy from the Blue Mountain Humane Society in October 1992; she went with us to Boise and Bozeman and back, and my kids have never known a day without her.

It was certainly time - her quality of life had declined rapidly over the last month.  We debated - do we let the kids know what's coming or do we take her to the vet's while they are at school and let them know after it's over?  We both felt pretty strongly that the kids should have a chance to say goodbye.  I picked them up from school, brought them home and told them what was going to happen, and then we spent some time saying goodbye.  Many tears shed, many stories told and memories shared, even some laughs.

My lovely sister took the kids while Jeff and I took Zoey.  It was incredibly painful and sad despite being the right thing to do.  We will miss you, old friend.