I am writing this with a broken heart because our Sheltie, Rocky (originally known as Rusty) died tonight. He had been in pain with severe arthritis for some time, and toward the end, he could scarcely get around. In fact, we had given up our walks together and Rocky had gotten to the point where he had to lean against something to go potty because he could not stand on his own. Last night he had difficulty breathing and there were episodes of the same throughout the day. So we took him to the Emergency Vet and she said that he also had heart failure.
This was the moment I'd been dreading because it brought me face-to-face with the decision I had been avoiding. No one likes the "E" word because Euthanasia is so painful, so final, and so God-like... but real love would rather "let go" than cling for the sake of clinging. So we faced our pain... and Rocky's pain and decided to set him free, which broke our hearts and tears filled my eyes. I might have even cried a little- I can't remember- but when Rocky saw that we were grieving, he tried to comfort us! And there we were- the three of us- on the floor in the room that leads directly to heaven ... and Rocky was worried about us. Indeed, in Rocky's mind, it was always his job to watch over us, and he did it well from the moment we adopted him to the moment we said goodbye. Again, tonight, I am reminded of two things- just as I was when Nikki left us: 1) there is no love as pure and unfettered as a pet's love and 2) we surely have a brokenhearted God! Surely we have a God who gets caught up in our suffering and who cries real tears when he sets us free.
Goodbye Rocky! You gave us all that you had to give... and that was more than enough!
Love, Poppy
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