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Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Farewell, Sweet Dalton...

I haven't been able to spend much time writing recently so this is a delayed post - sad all the same, though. A week ago, my parents had to make the tough decision of putting their dog, Dalton, to sleep. My mom was just heartbroken and I'm so sad for her. Dalton was her friend and he'd been a companion to her for years. My sweet mom is so sensitive and compassionate so things like this really affect her deeply, more than most.

The way mom came about "acquiring" Dalton is pretty funny. He was my ex-boyfriend, Patrick's, dog and he was the first dog mom could even tolerate. She'd always been a cat person and, when I started dating Patrick a million years ago, he came as a package deal with Dalton. So, we all had to get used to dog hair and slobber, hehe. I'd bring Dalton around every so often and mom definitely wasn't a fan at first. Over time though, she grew to love that dog enough to where our family even got our own black lab in the summer of '99. Anyway, after Patrick and I broke up, he came into a few situations where it was too tough for him to care for Dalton anymore so, long story short, mom took him in. After seven years, it was like mom had had Dalton since he was a puppy.

Needless to say, he was definitely a family member and the loss is really tough on mom. She's doing a little better and time is the only thing that will help. For now, she's concentrating on how lucky she was to own such a sweet and loyal dog. He lived a great life in his 15 years and we were all blessed by the happiness he offered our family. He will surely be missed and we'll always love that boy:

3 comments:

Amanda James said...

I am so sorry, Val. It is so sad to lose a pet. I have been there and only time makes it better. My mother in-law had to have her sweet dog put to sleep yesterday. It is so sad. Dalton looked like such a great dog!I always try to remember that the Lord made a pets life span shorter than ours b/c they need us to take care of them.

Abby said...

What a sweet post! I know Dalton was lucky to have such sweet people love him. The picture of him is precious!

Anonymous said...

I'm so sorry, Valerie. :( Hugs to your sweet parents. I hope that your mom is doing as well as possible... wonderful post and very sweet story.