It has been a very long, sad month for myself and especially for my husband. Our little girl CoCo died suddenly exactly 1 month ago. Just thinking of her still brings us both to tears even though we try to think of all the happiness she brought us every day.
She was such an integral part of our lives for 15 years. I know that can be a long time for most dogs, but since she was a Shitese ( Shih Tzu & Maltese mix) and small she may have lived a couple more years.
I was sitting on the back porch having a cup of coffee and my husband let her out with me. He was leaving to go to the store and walked around the house to the car. CoCo was walking on the lawn and saw him leaving and she ran after him. I quickly jumped off the porch yelling her name to stop but she was hard of hearing, by the time I got to the side of the house, it was too late. I knew that he had hit her with the car backing out of the driveway. I could not stop her in time.
My poor husband was beside himself when he realized what had just happened. As he got out of the car at the bottom of the driveway she had already passed. I have never in my life experienced anything as traumatic as that moment. Losing her was the most devasting thing I have ever felt in my life. I almost hate to admit it but I did not even feel that bad when my own parents died.
She was the sweetest little girl from the day we brought her home until the day she passed away. The love and companionship she shared with us was priceless.
You can see how small she was and as a puppy loved to lay on my desktop as I worked on the computer. As she got older though she would lay next to my chair to keep me company. That is something I am really missing right now.
She just adored taking a daily walk around the neighborhood with my husband. Greeting the other dogs and little children playing made that little one's day. You can see the excitement on her face in this photo as she goes on her daily adventure.
Getting her monthly haircut was not one of her favorite things to do. She always knew where she was going and would shiver and shake the whole drive there. It is so funny because once we left her the groomer would tell us she always settled in just fine. Here they put Christmas ribbons in her hair for a bit of holiday spirit.
I could not believe it when she went digging in the garden after a chipmunk shortly after a bath. All we could do was laugh out loud at how muddy she had gotten. To her dismay, she ended up in the laundry tub for another one.
Every evening after we finished our dinner she waited for her favorite treat. In fact, it was the only treat she would ever eat. She loved the duck and sweet potato snack. My husband had to always cut the treat into small pieces so she could chew them easily. I know he misses spending those special times with his little girl.
Of course, sleeping with my husband was her number one choice for napping and sleeping through the night. During the day she would spend time laying near the window to catch some of the sun's rays streaming through.
The oddest part of this whole experience has us wondering why she ran after him. In her entire life with us, she had never done that. It all happened so fast and was so unlike her.
It has only been 1 month, but no matter where we are in the house it reminds us of something about her. I am sure that many of you have had the same type of experience at the loss of your own pets. All I can hope is that each day gets a bit easier and our memories will bring us smiles instead of tears.
This poem came through my FB Stream one week after the accident happened and I saved it to share with my husband hoping it would ease his broken heart if only a little.
Thank you to all for visiting this post today in honor of CoCo.
Until next time, this is Sunscape
Sun. Scape. Ing Your Day
