Tough day at the vet

Yesterday morning, my kitty, Spencer, had his senior check up. I had no idea how to prepare for going to the vet. Oh, the kitty check up wasn't what I was worried about. The big thing was that I would also be picking up our Best Friend, Rocky's, ashes. Rocky was our dog for about 13-1/2 years. The week before Thanksgiving, he began to have issues that we knew were probably a sign of the end that was to come. The Saturday after Thanksgiving, Bob and I made the decision to put him down rather than let him suffer. It was a horribly sad day for us. Audra has never known a day without Rocky. Bob and I have had Rocky since he was just a 9 month old rescue puppy. When we had him put down, the vet told us to take our time to grieve and then come settle up with him. Well, yesterday was that day.

I thought I was okay. I thought I could get through it without too many tears. I swore I wasn't going to cry til I got back in the car. Needless to say, no matter how much I talked my self through it, I didn't even make it through Spencer's check up before I started to cry. The vet has been our vet for nearly 15 years and has been through our losing Sebastian Kitty years ago. And he loved to jog in our neighborhood and see Rocky, so I think Rocky had become pretty special to him over the years. While standing there paying my bill, He came over and put his arms around me and hugged me to tell me it was okay and that he understood. What more could you ask for in a vet... he's a real person. With the completion of paying my bill, I picked up Spencer in his crate and picked up the bag that held Rocky in his beautiful box. I marched out to the car, gathered my thoughts and headed home. I took the long way home simply because I wasn't ready to discuss with the kids what was in the box. And in fact, I didn't bring the box in from the car til the kids were otherwise occupied.

So, Rocky is with us again, and I realized how much I still really miss him... And, Spencer is doing well and still very healthy, even though he's large and in charge!

ROCKY 1995-2008