Families come in all shapes and sizes. There is your biological family, which you cannot change; that could be just you and your parents or siblings and cousins too many to count. There is your chosen family; whether through marriage or friendship this family can change throughout the years. In public safety, our coworkers are like a second family.
My chosen family may not look like yours. I have a husband and three children. You may have a wife and five children. Someone else may have no children at all. Sometimes the members of your chosen family aren’t even people. Sometimes they have four legs and fur.
Alex has always been an animal lover. We adopted Gracie when he was just a baby. Kenzie wasn’t even born when our family grew by four legs. Only Gregory can remember a time that our house did not include a black lab full of unconditional love. This past September our family grew by another four paws. Sage is a ball of energy who loves to chew on anything she can fit into her mouth, including Gracie’s ears. Gracie just lets her do what she wants. I think she secretly likes it. Friday, April 20th our family changed again. This time, not for the better.
Our old girl had seen better days. We couldn’t watch her suffer any more. Thursday when the children were at school and John was at work, it was like she just gave up. She could barely walk. She couldn’t manage to hold anything to even reach the door, let alone make it outside. I called the vet and scheduled the hardest appointment of my life for the next day. I knew it would be difficult to watch her in that condition overnight but I had to let the children say good bye. I couldn’t let them come home and find her missing. Thursday night was almost as hard as Friday morning. I watched my children grieve and pour all their love onto our sweet lady.
After taking all the kiddos to school, John and I drove to the vet. After an hour of loving and cuddling and holding and crying, the vet euthanised Gracie to end her suffering.
Our family won’t be the same without this beautiful furball. She will certainly be missed. We love you Gracie!
Oily Minded Medic 