Dear Dimes

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“Everyone thinks they have the best dog. And none of them are wrong.”

Unknown

Dear Dimes,

This is hard to write because there will never be adequate words to honor you or the life you lived.

It’s been one month since we said goodbye to you. It’s weird how it feels like yesterday but also like an eternity ago. The pain is fresh, but it’s like I haven’t seen you in forever. Such contradictory feelings. I’m not sure how to process them.

It amazes me how quiet the house is without you. You weren’t a vocal dog, but you sure did stomp around the house and throw your body down when you found a cool spot to rest. I never realized how much noise you made. The silence of your absence is absolutely deafening. Not to mention having you by my side almost 24/7 for eight years and then not having you here at all has made my world feel incredibly empty.

I was talking to our friend Aaron the other day and he asked me what lessons I learned from you. I learned so much from you, but the most important lesson you taught me was to love everyone. That’s such an important lesson given the world we live in right now. You loved every living being you came in contact with. Like I told Aaron, you were the perfect example of what God wants us all to be. What a gift it was to witness your unconditional love for all things. I truly feel like I didn’t deserve you because you were so incredible, but I am so blessed God chose me to be your mom. I know without a doubt that you made God so proud. He’s rewarding you in heaven with all the pupcakes, fries, and pup patties you can eat.

Beyond your profound capacity for love, you lived your life with patience, loyalty, forgiveness, and kindness. You and I both know you had your stubborn moments, but those moments were constantly outshined by how gentle, selfless, and sweet you were. You were just as beautiful on the inside as you were on the outside.

I hope you know the impact you had on this world. Your life was filled with incredible purpose. You helped save so many lives through our company. You made many friends along the way and brought joy to so many people, some we knew and others we didn’t. You were a patient foster sister and never complained about having to share your space or toys, even when I could tell you were over it. 

Not only did you make the world a better place, you made MY world a better place. Of the many “hats” you wore during your life, the one I will appreciate the most was being the best support system I could have ever asked for. You were there for a lot of good moments in my life, but most importantly you were there for some of the toughest ones. You were my source of comfort and strength when we said goodbye to your great grandpa Poppy and your fur siblings, Flip and Sadie. You loved me through breakups. You made me brave enough to handle my hereditary hemochromatosis diagnosis by going with me to every blood test and therapeutic phlebotomy. You even made the journey to Arizona with your grandma and me to support me through additional health concerns even though you hated the car. You always had my back, even when it meant doing things you didn’t want to do.

One of the things that makes losing you so hard is that you’ve always been my source of comfort, strength, and bravery during tough times. Losing you is one of the toughest things ever and I don’t have you to get me through it.

I’m not quite sure how to do life without you. I know you taught Elsie everything you could before you left and for that I am grateful. But you and I both know that, as much as we love her, she can be a little stinker and really would have benefitted from more time with you.

If I’m being honest, we all would have benefitted from more time with you. The reality is that there was just never going to be enough time with you. You were too good for this world and we were lucky God let us keep you for as long as He did.

So, my sweet, beautiful girl, please never forget: 

You will always be the best girl and were truly my once in a lifetime dog. Thank you for ALL the things. I love you forever and appreciate you more than I could ever put into words. You changed my life. I will miss you every day until we meet again.

Love always,

Mom