Six days ago, my husband and I lost our dearest friend.  Her name was Tiny and she loved us completely and unconditionally every day that she was in our lives.  She was our greatest cheerleader and our most loyal friend.

Tiny was gentle and sweet-tempered, and she loved us with every inch of her little 13 pound self.  She was different shades of chocolate brown with smooth silky fur and a beautiful, expressive face.  I can’t believe how much we miss her. We loved her, still love her, will always love her, and she is barely gone a week.

Memories of her will fill our days as we come home after work and she is not there to greet us at the door, with such enthusiasm that we were continuously surprised by the pleasure it brought into every, single day.  No one has ever consistently, without fail, been so darn glad to see us.  And it was true every time, even if we were only gone for minutes.

Tiny was never aggressive, but if you were to see her and hear her upon approaching our house, you would think she was vicious.  She acted as if everyone outside was a threat to us.  Surely, she thought that she was protecting us, as she barked furiously at any one who passed our property, even a little old man and his tiny, elderly dog on their daily walk.

She lived her life entirely for us and just wanted to be close to us every minute of the day.  It made us want to stay home more and more.  And, she made us laugh so much!

The last day of her life, she was with me, as I was home from work.  We had a wonderful time and she was vibrant and energetic, as always.  Later, she would bark and make a strange sound right before her heart stopped.  In an instant, she was gone.  We held her, trying to revive her, knowing that it was in vain, but not believing that it could be true.

We brought her to our vet, where she was put into compassionate arms that cradled her and carried her off to be cremated to be returned to us later to keep in remembrance of her place in our lives.  We must only think of and remember her for what she was, and still is, a blessing and a joy.  That will never change.

Our pets are part of our families and we grieve them, as we should.  They deserve to be remembered with sadness, but with the hope that we will see them again.  There they will join us, with those loved ones who have passed before us, where we will find peace and happiness forever.