Our hearts are very heavy tonight as we process how our day has gone today. And even as I write this, I feel somewhat guilty about telling you about Katie when there are so many others right here in our own little town are going through so much worse than this. But I wanted you to know.
Over the years, I've been so blessed to be able to offer some final words when friends or family have gone on. Somehow I manage to write a fair obituary; I feel like tonight that this might be the least I could do for Katie.
Katie came to us as just a sweet young puppy at a time in my life when I felt like my whole world was caving in. I had just lost my momma. . I was sending my oldest off to college. Too many goodbyes. But when Grant came home with a puppy for me, I first thought that this was the last thing I needed, much less wanted. But somehow I fell in love. We all did.
(The picture on the right was taken right before I got bit. But I loved her anyhow.)
Katie was a lovable puppy . . . . however . . . when she grew out of the puppy stage, if you didn't already love her, there wasn't much hope. Katie was so very temperamental, combined with her extreme OCD-ness. Tyler and Benny were the only ones that she never bit. There was no rhyme nor reason for her biting. The very first person she ever bit was my boss. Oh my. I wanted so much to cuddle her up in my lap so many times, but she would have none of that. I kinda feel like maybe in addition to her temperamentalness and OCD-ness that she might have been somewhat autistic. Yes, Katie had her issues.
She barked incessantly. She was terrified of storms and exhibited this through her barking and cowering and incontinence. (She may have gotten some of that from me.) She would be the first in line to go to the storm cellar, whether we wanted to or not. She normally hated getting a bath unless it was raining, and then she demanded numerous baths until the thunder rolled no more. She hated going for her spa day, and God bless Lisa who loved her in spite of her mean self. In her later years she became almost totally blind and routinely incontinent. (That's the first time I've ever used that phrase in an obituary.) So you see, loving Katie became quite a challenge, but we loved her regardless.
So in saying "goodbye" to Katie, I just want to reflect a little on why I did love her so much. She and I grew old together. When she was 9, she and I were the same age - if you put much stock in dog years. She was totally dependable and we could always count on her exact same routine - the good, the bad, and the stinky. When some brave soul would actually visit in spite of our biting autistic dog, Katie wanted so badly to join in and be in the middle of everything - until someone tried to pet or hold her. She truly did want to be loved but I guess she just couldn't process all the cuddling and petting. When our grandson came along, I constantly positioned myself between him and Katie at all times, just in case. But we began to see that she became very protective of Benny. I simply cannot imagine my grandson ever needing to be punished, but IF that had happened, I'm quite sure that Katie would have come to his defense. Just a week or so ago, she actually let me hold her during a long stormy night. I was afraid to try to put her down, because I knew that she would surely bite me. That was the last time she and I had "our time" together, and I was so happy that she had actually let me hold her, even if it did take a thunderstorm.
So today we laid Katie to rest beside our granddog, AnnaBelle. I've cried off and on all day. I won't miss the biting. I won't miss the temperament. I won't miss the incontinence. I won't miss the dog hair. I won't miss not being to have company come over. But I will miss our twelve years of growing together, dysfunctional (on both sides) as it might have been. I was "her person". She took a little bit of my heart with her. Rest in peace, Katie.
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Thank you, Dear Lord, for supplying our every need - sometimes through love of family, sometimes through love of friends, sometimes even through love of our fur babies.
