Sullivan

Sullivan our Golden Retriever died yesterday morning. We let him out at 6am, like any other day. I heard him barking and chasing the squirrels. Kevin was about to go off for his morning run, and noticed Sully laying in the sun alittle too peacefully. It was about 7am and he was just gone.
The girls got to say goodbye to him, pet him one last time, tell him what a good dog he was and how much we would miss him. Caitlin cried and cried. I told her that Sully's birthday was coming soon, so we could make a birthday cake for him.

We remembered when he ate 1/4 of Abi 's Pony birthday cake. They allowed as how he really liked that one, so maybe we should make just that kind. That cheered them up for a bit. (His birthday was really around March. When I got the new calendar I conveniently remembered that Sully's birthday was July 23rd because we have no birthdays in the summer!) Abi seems to still think that we took him to the doctors, and that they are going to wake him up and send him home. She hasn't quite gotten it yet.

Lilly is the most beside herself. The girls are just kind of moppie at this point, and I just come and go with the misty memories - but poor little Lilly is just out of sorts. She's acting like a completely different dog. Luckily we have some more summer to squeeze Lil and make her feel better.

We got Sullivan the year after we were married. So he was my best companion when I was home waiting for Caitlin to arrive. When Caitlin came along, he was an even better companion. I have tons of pictures of her pulling herself up using him. He took it all in stride, and rarely even moved away from her as his subtle form of protest. He was a sweetheart, and stayed puppy-ish for a long long time. Abi and Caity are probably such animal lovers because of his gentleness. They would dress up in the dog costumes and be his siblings; grab onto his tail and get pulled around the kitchen; ick - eat his dog food! OK, enough about that. He was truly one of the family.

He even put up with the addition of Lilith with style and grace.

Well Sully, you were a much loved dog! And I wish I could pat you on the head one more time and tell you what a good boy you were, and how much we miss you.

We hope you like chasing squirrels in doggie heaven.