July 8, 2003.

That’s the day that Holly came home with me.  Exactly 9 years ago today.  I was really looking forward to celebrating this special day with her.  17 more days and we would have been able to.  Exactly one week before she died, while we were at the vet discussing what turned out to not be arthritis at all, my husband suggested that maybe we should go ahead and celebrate that coming weekend.  I scoffed at him and reminded him that it was only a few weeks away, and a little pain or arthritis certainly wasn’t going to cause major problems that quickly…turns out, we wouldn’t have really been able to celebrate then anyway.  It’s amazing how quickly things can change.  Actually, once we had settled in a bit from her diagnosis, I set my sights on her 10th adoptaversary as our goal.  I don’t know why I felt the need to set a goal at all, but I thought it would be perfectly reasonable for her to be here in a year.

So, 9 years ago.  Holly came into the shelter where I was working at the time on June 30.  As soon as I saw her, I was smitten.  She was an awkward puppy with huge ears and paws, and that beautiful smile.  I immediately looked into her intake info. to find out more about her.  Turns out, a man had taken her from the home of his adult son, who was not taking good care of her.  I don’t know for sure if it was abuse or “just” neglect, but I would suspect some of both, as she definitely had some fear issues throughout her life.

I was not in a position to get a new dog at that point, so I just loved her up at the shelter.  She was energetic and lacking in manners – when I walked her, she just jumped all over me.  Of course, she was also a puppy living in a too-small cage 23.5 hours a day and was desperate for human attention.  Then, my dog died very suddenly.  I was, as you would imagine, devastated.  She was a wonderful dog who had helped get me through some seriously tough stuff and who was an incredibly important part of my life.  I still wasn’t in a place to get a new dog, but I put my name down to be contacted before any decisions were made about Holly.  Then, lo and behold, she got sick, which meant euthanasia if she stayed in the shelter.  That did it for me – I took her home.  I remember the day I took her home…I was walking out of the shelter with a couple of people at the end of the day and before I could get her outside, she up and peed on the floor.  She got to come home anyway. 🙂  First things first – her name had been Coco, which is a perfectly fine name, but it wasn’t her name, so she became Holly.  From that day forward, she was incredibly loved and spoiled.  We had a wonderful (almost) 9 years together.

I can’t thank you – the Tripawds community – enough for getting us through these last couple of months, especially the last couple of weeks.  Your comments on forum posts, blogs, your PMs…it  has all helped me so much.  It has definitely been rough – Thursday was two weeks since we lost her, and it definitely was a hard day.  I actually stayed away from here for a bit because, as much as it helps to be a part of this community, these days it is somewhat bittersweet.  I owe some of you PMs!  Yesterday was a good day…we took the monkeybutts to the Russian River to enjoy the warm weather.  Holly would have really enjoyed the day.  Then, we got home and this had arrived in the mail:

with this inside…

I was really excited to see a picture of her that I had never seen before…I didn’t know that there were any left.  Of course, there were tears, and yes, they were sad tears, but it was also such a wonderful thing to see notes from people who knew her.

Today, as I mentioned, was supposed to be a day of celebration with our girl.  In many ways, it was a difficult day.  I so badly wanted her to be here.  In her honor, though, we celebrated her adoptaversary.  The monkeybutts went for a special hike (well, walk, really), had a special tasty treat, and wore some very special attire…pictures to come!  Please give your pup a special treat and ear scratch or belly rub in honor of Holly.

To my prettiest girl – what an amazing adventure we had together!  Thank you for choosing me.  I am beyond lucky that you came into my life and stayed for a while.  Happy adoptaversary, beans.  I love you then, now, and forever.