Dear Mr Levin,
I wrote you a letter last year telling you about my 2 wonderful cairn terriers , Cubby and Bridget. In that letter I enclosed a picture of the two of them sitting on a footlocker that arrived here 3 weeks before my husband Mark was due back from Iraq. I wanted to share with you the joy my cairns had brought into my life, especially during long deployments.
Now I’m writing you a different story, one I thought I would never have to write.
As I sit here with tears rolling down my face and crying that gut wrenching cry, I wait for the phone to ring. My husband left for his 4th tour in Iraq last month, and now I wait here for him to call , to give him the horrible news that our precious Cubby had to be put down tonight.
My Cubby just shy of his 10th birthday , collapsed this morning with now warning, I rushed him to the emergency vet hospital in my town, where it was discovered that he had a tumor in his heart that caused some blood vessels to burst. There was nothing we could do to save his life. As the vet was giving him the meds to put him to sleep , I held that precious little pup in my arms , whispering to him how much we all loved him and thanked him for coming into our lives.
Cubby was “daddys puppy” he went in “daddys truck” for hamburgers at macdonalds, found the biggest sticks for daddy to throw, barked when he heard daddys whistle, and waited through every deployment for daddy to come home.
It weighed heavy on my heart whether or not to tell my husband that his Cubby is no longer with us, but I decided I had too. So as I sit here waiting. How do I tell him? I don’t know yet. What I do know is I blessed. I’m blessed to have had this precious creature in my life for almost 10 years, I’m blessed for all the laughter ,joy, and comfort he brought into my life. And I know that my precious cairn terrier Cubby will be waiting at the gates of heaven for me to come.
Mr. Levin, Thank you so much for your blog, your book and for everything you do for our soldiers. Graces will be brought upon you , May God bless you and yours , and May God bless our little bundles of joy ,we call dogs.
Truly ,
Monique from CT
proud air force wife and army mom