Goodbye to an old friend

I’ve been wanting to write this post for a few weeks now but just wasn’t ready to. My family had to say goodbye to our dog Diego last month. He showered us with love and kisses for 14 years! I had known in my heart that goodbye was going to come soon as his beard became streaked with silver and his hips stopped working well, but I didn’t realize how hard it was going to be. Our family feels one member short. Sunday afternoons at my parent’s house don’t feel right without Diego running up to the car in the driveway to say hello, or growling with happiness at ear scritches or drooling all over the floor while waiting for a treat. For that reason, my parents are now in the process of buying another puppy, and we’re waiting with anticipation for the day they can bring him home! It’s rather bittersweet. But that’s life isn’t it? Hello’s and goodbye’s.

To help say goodbye, we spent an afternoon going through my mom’s boxes of photos from our childhood to find our favorites of Diego. We brought him home when I was 12 years old, which means he was around for more than half my life! It’s strange to think of it that way.

My dad built Diego an insulated doghouse in a fenced off dog run to sleep in at night since he was an outside acreage dog. Diego discovered a way to get on top of the doghouse, which gave him plenty of height to jump the fence and explore the neighborhood at night! He used his freedom once to wander over to the house of some kids that I used to babysit and get cozy with their collie Dakota…all the pups were born as little black labs so there was no doubt as to who was responsible 🙂

We will miss his warm brown eyes, his tendency to be anyone’s best friend as long as they had food, his kisses, his paw shakes, his appetite for bees and wasps that kept the front hedge wasp-free (it’s getting overrun Diego – so many wasps for you to eat!), and as much as we complained about it while he was alive, we smile when we find his black hair in random places throughout my parent’s house. Love you always, Diego! I miss you something fierce.