goodbye inky

last night was the end of a really hard week.

inky, our family fur baby passed away. he was 15 years old and his health has been declining (for the past couple of years) but I don’t think he was ready to go yet ... we weren’t ready to let him go either. although his health was getting worse, he always seemed to be generally ok but he was really in bad shape last week. on tuesday, he walked into the pool and was too weak to try and save himself. luckily, my stepdad (inky’s favorite) was there to save him. on friday it was so windy, the winds almost blew him away. (he only weighed 5 lbs.) i think trying not to fall down was really hard on his legs because they were really swollen and he kept falling down and couldn’t walk on saturday. he went to the vet on saturday but i don’t know what happened.

early sunday morning, marla called me from work to tell me that inky really wasn’t doing well and wanted me to go to the house to see him (and check on my mom). unfortunatley, i had to work at my lss but went to my mom’s house when i was finished. my nieces were over and inky was sleeping so I let him be. the girls went home and we ordered dinner. when my stepdad came out of the bedroom (where inky was resting) to eat, marla and i went to visit him.

it was so hard for me to see him like that. he was having a hard time breathing and he looked so uncomfortable. i was scared to pet him because i didn’t want to startle him so marla and i just prayed over him and told him that we loved him. about an hour after I got home, marla called sobbing and I knew inky had passed away. although i prayed for God to take him so that he wouldn’t suffer (and so that my step dad wouldn’t have to make the decision to put him to sleep), i can’t help but miss him. i bawled for a long time last night before i went to sleep and am crying right now. poor marla - she’s been crying all night and even all day today even though she's at work.

inky was a wonderful member of our family. i can't call him a dog because he was much more than that. all fur babies are. i know some people think that they are just pets but they are our life companions who love us unconditionally. i miss him. i remember when he was young and used to bark at all the people passing by our busy street - even when i would walk up the steps. he used to do "the inky dance" when he was happy and excited. it was so cute. as he matured, he had this quiet demeanor and was so gentle and sweet. it's always hard to say good bye and even though i was able to tell inky that i loved him last night, i still miss him ... we all do. (this picture of sierra and inky was taken almost exactly one month ago.)