trail of broken hearts

looking back at you

now and from the start

these words will travel true

the godspeed of trust

will settle the dust

we've been passing through

-- K.D. Lang "Trail of Broken Hearts"





We said goodbye to Millie yesterday. As we were packing to leave last Wednesday she became very ill and remained in the vet hospital during our trip out of town. We discovered she was in the beginning stages of renal failure but our vet fully expected her to come back home when we returned. We hated to leave her, but we checked in every day. Unfortunately she took a turn for the worse and had to be put down yesterday just before we got back on the Shore.

Millie was always Tracy's dog. My presence was tolerated, but I think she often cursed under her breath about the Short People. She had been with us six or seven years before India was born and was used to having Tracy all to herself . But she never growled or snapped, just merely rolled her eyes and moved to another, quieter room where there were no children and she could nap in peace.

Millie was amazingly smart. She was obsessed with tennis balls (we called her our "tennis ball retriever"). Once we hid one in a coffee table drawer so she would stop pelting us with it...she immediately crawled under the table, opened the drawer with her nose, and snatched the ball from the drawer like she had been opening things all her life.

Daisy Jane, her "sister", is lost without Millie. She keeps running in and out of the house, looking around and occasionally sniffing Millie's bowl. She's confused, poor girl. It breaks my heart. The Short People are upset, but waited about 6.5 minutes before they asked "does this mean we can get a puppy?". Ah, the protective innocence of children!

Goodbye Millie. We miss you.