Our Tribute to our Best Friend- Heidi

Where do I begin? Tears flowing down my cheeks, rain falling outside, and here I am thinking about our beloved friend Heidi.....

Eleven years ago this spring, we brought home a new addition to our family and named her Heidi. She came after Katie, but before any children. She was my first running buddy, and I nearly killed her little legs making her run 1.5 miles at only 8 weeks old. But she never complained. Every time we'd come home from a run, she's head straight to the pool and jump in. I'd follow her shortly after I'd changed into my swimsuit and we'd swim and lay out together on a blow up bed that we floated on for hours!

She was Barry's first dog and first hunting dog. Every day he'd come home after school and spend hours out back training her with his whistle. I'll never forget the day I came home to see my husband floating in the pool in our tiny canoe, throwing Heidi out, blowing his whistle, and then making her swim back to him. Thus, getting her ready to bird hunt and jump in water after them. I was so worried what the neighbors would think.....seeing a grown man in a canoe in the middle of a pool, blowing a whistle!

Then Hunter came. She sniffed him up and down, decided he was a keeper, and slept under his crib to protect him. Half the time, as he got older, I'd find him in his sleeper p.j.'s, sound alseep, snuggled up to her on her doggie bed on the floor. Ten years later, that hadn't changed. When Hunter was sad or lonely, we'd find him on the floor next to her asleep. He'd always ask us to make sure Heidi was in his room before we'd go to bed. It wasn't until her last two or three days that she couldn't make it up the stairs to his room.

Each additional child born into our family was presented to her and she became more protective, because she took on the mother roll. These were HER babies. There was always a bark with each doorbell ring, and she had to sniff out everyone who entered her home. Now, hearing a knock at the door and no bark has an empty feeling to it.

Anyone who knows us, knew our love for our animals. Katie and Heidi were the best of friends, even though they were cat and dog. And as heartbreaking as it is that only 5 months ago we lost Katie, it seems fitting that Heidi is gone now too. At least they are together again, as my kids tell me. She lived a great life with lots of love and lots of kids.

When the day came to put her to sleep, we knew it was time. She'd had a siezure a few days before, started throwing up 3 days before, and stopped eating all together two days before. We tried to get her to walk, but she kept falling over and her back legs no longer worked. We went to church and Barry came home and spent two wonderful hours laying by her side, talking to her, opening his heart to her. We had dinner, then sat the children down and explained to them what needed to happen. We all cried. Then each child had a picture with her and was able to tell her good-bye. The sweet heart that she was, did her best to sit up for the pictures. It was the most I've seen out of her in days. Barry, Hunter, and I then took her to the vet where we held her and talked to her and loved her as she passed. It was incredibly hard, and yet so very peaceful. Hunter asked later why people can't go that way.

As we buried her in our backyard next to Katie, the twins kept saying, "Daddy, my Heidi!" They didn't understand why we were burying her. Yesterday and today they have asked me several times "Heidi got out?" "My Heidi out, mommy?" How do you tell a toddler about death?
Now, I've had a chance to tell them about heaven and now they say "mommy, heidi heben?"

So as a tribute to her, I kept the kids home from school yesterday and we looked through all our old photographs and found every one we had of Katie and Heidi. We went out to lunch at McDonald's (to brighten any child's spirit, right?) and bought a special album which we placed all our pictures. So at any time, we can remember them. The evening ended great with lots of giggles and belly laughs as the kids saw pictures of their mom and dad from years ago. I'll never forget when my kids asked to see the picture of dad with the triangles behind his ears (his mullet picture from highschool) They could barely get the words out, they were laughing so hard. Or to look at the picutre of dad with his Harry Potter glasses!

Well, I started this post with tears, and now I'm ending it with laughter. I guess that's what a true best friend does. Helps you see the laughter behind the tears. We can't wait to be with you two again. Until then, watch over us and have fun together. Here are the pictures of our last days and moments with her. Everyone loved her, even our newest addition, Stephanie, the kitten.