Jackaroo

It has been almost a month since we lost our very best friend Jack. It has been harder than we could’ve ever imagined. We have cried, hugged and then cried some more. There’s a huge void in our home and it is felt daily. We know it will pass with time but for now, we can barely talk about him. His bed and other little things are neatly placed in a corner in the garage and that’s as far as they can go for now. His big bin full of dog food is still there with about 10 pounds worth but we can’t bring ourselves to get rid of it.

I guess some people out there might say “it’s just a dog” but to us, he represented so much more. We were so young when we got him and he taught us how to take care of something else other than ourselves. He taught us how to have patience, worry when he was sick, cuddle with him at night when a thunderstorm was rolling by and he taught us in his own small way about unconditional love. He loved us regardless of who we were and what we did from day to day. He also taught us to just take deep breaths when things were broken, chewed, scratched, torn, eaten etc. He definitely had his bad moments but now all those do not matter. When you put all the memories good and bad together you end up with one result…one awesome dog.

Last year when I was pregnant with Noah and could not sleep, Jack was the one that kept me company night after night. He would come and lay next to me and watch over me as I tried to get comfortable. Cuddling with him and watching infomercials at 2 am was comforting and I felt safe. Weird how an 18 pound dog can make you feel safe in the middle of the night. I appreciate all he did for me during that time.

After Noah’s birth and things got more hectic around here, Jack slowed down. At 14, it was hard for him to keep up. I’m convinced that he hung around long enough to make sure we knew what we were doing and then said “you guys got this. It’s ok for me to leave. You don’t need me anymore.” In his own dog/small way he did teach us a lot. We thank you Jack for everything. You will always be in our hearts!

This is one of our favorite pictures of him. He loved laying by the back door to catch some rays every day.