A Part of Us is Missing...

I know...it has appeared like I've abandoned our blog completely. However, the truth is...I've intentionally been avoiding it because I've been procrastinating this very post that I'm typing. On Monday, March 5, 2012, our family lost a beloved pet. Hunter (aka "Busters as we so often referred to him) wasn't just any pet. He was an extraordinary pet and Brian & I's first child. We had just gotten married in February 2006 and 2 months later, we decided to fill the void that the previous loss of my first boxer, Dexter left. We had only been in our house since December, so these floors and walls haven't gone too long without that energetic dog.

We picked Hunter because he was the first out of the litter to come running up to us. He shook the entire way home and slept nestled in our necks for the first couple of weeks. He was simple to potty train and instantly felt like part of our family. He went everywhere that we went!

A year later, we welcomed Nolan to our family and naturally had our anxiety of how they'd get along together. Sadly, Hunter took a bit of a backseat once our "real" kids came along. But, Nolan loved him just as much, if not more, than we did! They quickly became best of buds. We never had any fears of their relationship either - Busters was AMAZING with the kids. A protector. A pillow. A companion.

His passing was all too sudden and our hearts still ache a lot. Nolan had a lot of questions and really just wanted to know why we couldn't "Go to Heaven and ask Jesus for him back."  *SIGH*  If only it were so simple. Nolan's also had a lot of questions regarding death, Heaven, heart attacks, etc. which I know are very normal, but it's still so heartbreaking for all of us. You forget how tramatic the loss of a pet can be until it happens again. The hardest part is coming home at the end of each day to an empty house and not hearing his paws prance on the floors like they did the last 6 years. Parker was a bit more timid with him than Nolan, but was quickly adjusting to him - he had really taken to him the last couple of months. He was even to the point that you could say "Where's your puppy dog?" and he'd search the room to find him and smile ear-to-ear once his eyes located him! It saddens me that he will not remember Busters.

"The dog of your boyhood teaches you a great deal about friendship, and love, and death: Old Skip was my brother. They had buried him under our Elm tree they said - yet this wasn't totally true...for really he lay buried in my heart." ~Willie Morris 'My Dog Skip'

We will always love and miss you, Busters and know you'll be wagging your body (as boxers do) when we're greeted by you again someday. Thanks for the memories and for loving our boys.



Nolan drew this the day after Hunter passed away...completely on his own in his room.