Puppy Love..

Ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation.
~ Kahlil Gibran

On Saturday morning we lost our faithful four-legged friend and old girl, Ellie. Her real name was Cabela Blue, but no one ever called her that. She was always Ellie, or Ellie Bellie, or Ellie Pink Bellie. She was five months shy of her 13th birthday…a good long life for a dog. But somehow I always thought we’d have her longer.

I brought her home as the most irresistible puppy a few months before my 40th birthday. She helped me usher in a new decade and served as a reminder of what I would allow, and not allow in my life. She became my teacher and my boundary of accepting only kindness and tail wagging and head scratching into my world. We spent day after day fetching a tennis ball, hours upon hours walking in the woods and countless lazy afternoons napping together. She was my sidekick, my shadow, my steadfast companion.
Our lives became a beautifully choreographed dance of knowing and anticipating each other’s next move. From her head shake, to my turning off the hair dryer, each movement meant something to the other that kept us mindfully in tandem of what came next in life. A walk. A meal. Or just a sit on the dock to watch the world go by..

She was a lake loving, bed hogging, ball chasing, cookie gobbling, sock stealing, bug fearing, 80 pound goof… and the sweetest soul I have ever met. I will never forget the love, the joy and the happiness she brought to our home. But most of all, I will never forget her smile.

In my heart you will always stay, loved and remembered every day, sweet Ellie.