Our friends brought Bridie, a four month old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel to the States from the UK in 1996. I had no idea we would spend the next ten years sharing every heart break and every joy for ten years. She gaves us four adorable puppies and that was pretty amazing, as she “wasn’t that kind of a girl” and didn’t like sex, so she had to be artificially inseminated! When I had two mini strokes and couldn’t talk right for seven months and slept 20 hours a day, Bridie and I spent most of those snuggled on the sofa. Together we missed many a breakfast, way too many lunches and her dinners were often a milk bone, but she never complained. On her 10th birthday she didn’t even get excited when I put her little birthday cupcake on the floor. My heart skipped a beat that day. Slowly she changed. She couldn’t see well, she was deaf, she hurt too much to walk so I pushed her in a baby carriage, for months. On the day, that awful day, my daughter, husband and I drove her to the vet in her baby carriage, wrapped in my bathrobe. She slept during the ride and only awoke when she smelled the vet enter the room. For all you who have been witness to the last breath your furry best friend takes, I cry for you, too. Actually, the three of us were numb. I have four wonderful, grown children, yet, Bridie was my little girl, too. The memory of that day still causes me great, great grief. I have to say, though, that 5 days ago, we picked up our little boy, Archie, a four month old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. We are in the process, my husband And I of making a million new memories.. it’s time, it’s just time.

P.S. My grand dogs are still fine and dandy, too!

Pappy from NJ