Dear GRR,
It is with a heavy heart
that I write to tell you that we lost our Cricket Blue a week ago. We
adopted her from GRR in February of 2001. She was about a year old at
the time and we drove all the way to Dallas to pick her up. I am
attaching probably too many pictures but through 12 years, we have hundreds
of pictures of her as she was always in the middle of everything!
She was so much a part of our lives, our hearts, and our daily routines. It is so hard to not refer to her a hundred times a day as if she were still here. We adopted Maggie, a terrier mutt, about two years ago. Maggie is devastated without Cricket. She walks around whining and has been so anxious this past week. The kids are grieving deeply. She was an amazing and wonderful dog and she graced us with her love and spirit for almost exactly 12 years. She came before all four of our children and welcomed each of them into our home and assumed the role of sister to all of them. She allowed them to dress her up, sleep on her, use her as a pillow, she kept them company, she destroyed their toys, she scavenged their dinners, she ate the food they slipped her under the table with the greatest amount of discretion she could muster. Cricket had a good life. She had 4 kids who thought she hung the moon, a sister dog who loved her company, and her "parents" who spent every evening curled up on the couch with her watching the news or reading a book. She went hiking, camping, swimming, and traveled all across the southwest with her family in search of adventure. She was a happy dog.
She had gotten slow and old. We would walk but
couldn't go far with her. Sometimes she would lay down on the sidewalk
for a breather and we would sit down next to her petting her, and telling
her it was OK. Still, on the short trips around the block, she'd hold
that golden head high and her tail would wag nonstop. She wasn't
sickly and she wasn't in pain. We didn't have to ask ourselves if it
was time to let her go. She died the best way any dog could ask to die.
She went outside on a Monday morning, played a bit, came in for breakfast,
then quietly curled up on the couch where she always slept, closed her eyes
and crossed the Bridge. My husband found her shortly after. We
are so grateful for her life and as deeply brokenhearted as we are, we
wouldn't change a second our lives with her. Not even the time she ate
a razor blade. Or the time she broke a blue fountain pen on the new
carpet, or the 5000 times she ate a favorite toy or shoe or the bed
post.....
We know she is out there now
somewhere climbing hills, chasing squirrels, running through the fields, and
swimming in the river. She made our family complete and we will always
miss our Cricket Blue.
