Goodbye Buddy Boy

Rocco got a lot worse on Sunday.  He ended up paralyzed from just below the ribcage and could not feel anything at all in his hips or legs.  So yesterday Lilly & Rocco & I went to the vet.  I couldn’t leave Lilly at home - she’s never let me leave her if I’m taking Rocco and yesterday was no exception.  Besides, I didn’t want her searching for him.  So, she waited in the car while the vet examined my big beautiful boy and told me what I already knew - there wasn’t anything else we could do for him.  So I held my buddy boy in my lap while the vet gave him the drugs to put him to sleep forever.  And I cried.  Once he was gone, I brought Lilly in to say goodbye.  She sniffed his body and then came to me and asked for a hug.  Poor little girl, she really depended on him for his eyes and ears.  After Lilly and I left the vet we went to Percy Warner Park and went for a hike through the woods.  She mastered walking across a beam over the river, jumping over a log, and enjoyed wading in the shallow parts of the water.  Then it was back home to reality.  A too quiet house without Rocco.  Both Lilly and Sylvester slept curled up with me on my bed last night - something they have never done before.  And today I found Lilly lying on Rocco’s bed sniffing his blanket.  She’s not looking for him.  She knows he’s gone.  She just misses him.  I do too.  I know the tears will fade in time, but for now I cry spontaneously.