Holidays can be hard...

[addy]

Wel, I won't be much help because I am just sitting her with tears in my eyes thinking all of our heart dogs no longer here with us.

Can't even think of one kind or witty remark

Like Molly, Zoe did not care much for Halloween but oh Thanksgiving and Christmas were biggies for her.

I never bought her a costume, though she would have worn it happily.
Koko hates any clothes with the exception of his ratty old puppy coat.

Marianne, I think your hubby is a keeper What a touching idea.

Ok, done rambling and off to dry my tears.

[molly muffin]

Absolutely hubby gets an A+ what a great idea.

Lately I've been so busy with the kids moving in and trying to get all that sorted, not getting to bed till 1 - 2am every night that I haven't had time to think about halloween or much of anything else. Now though, we where just saying we need to go buy candy and it was bitter sweet. Grandson's first halloween costume but I started thinking, how weird that I don't have to make arrangements for keeping molly entertained or from going crazy when the door bell rings this year. I don't have to rush home to make sure she is all settled before trick or treating starts or that the streets are semi cleared for her last walk of the night. It brought tears to my eyes. So much is different, in just the little rituals we have done for years for molly at halloween. I miss it. I want it back damn it.

[Joan2517]

Yes, it would be wonderful if we could have it back...I am trying so hard to appear normal, when all I really want to do is SCREAM that it is just not fair...my darling girl never did anything wrong; she was the sweetest, best behaved dog I have ever had and she should have lived longer. I know it never would have been long enough, but it should have been longer.

[labblab]

Yeah, it's the broken rituals that are the kickers, I think. And that's why the holidays are ten times harder. Even this morning, I still mourn just the everyday ritual with Peg. Compared to Luna, she was much more high maintenance...multiple meds, putting on her sling harness to help her walk, having to spend a long time outside until toilet chores were finished. Luna bolts down her breakfast, races out to pee and poop, and that's that. And then I'm left looking around and longing for the shadow of my shiny black dog. Every morning and every suppertime and every med time. I'd be so willing to resume Peg's daily ritual once again, if only I could and if only she had not gotten so bad.

And then when you layer the holiday rituals on top of the daily ones, boy it sure does get tough.

[labblab]

Yesterday I put Peg's orange collar around her box so as to be ready for Halloween. It didn't make me feel any better . I had to shorten the collar to make it fit, and right after I did that I was sorry. I wished I had left it just the way it always had been for my big girl .

Now that it's done and all ready, though, I'm hoping I'll feel glad I did it by the time Halloween night rolls around.

[Squirt's Mom]

I think I rearranged Squirt's little shrine 50+ times before I finally convinced myself it would never be "right" because that empty blinged out collar and that limp harness and those little Cairn figurines and all the rest were not my Sweet Bebe. No matter where I put those things or how I set them up, they never would be. So I made it as nice as I could and shut the door.

[labblab]

I think you are very wise, Les. I was falsely hoping this would somehow feel "good" but you've made me realize there's no way that was going to happen. It is just not an option that's on the table. But we can still honor her in this way, and surely that's important in its own right. So now I'm back to thinking it was the right thing to do. Thank you for helping me get there.

[Budsters Mom]

Holidays are hard when all family members(whether two or four legged) can no longer be together.

Buddy loved Halloween and all holidays. He was absolutely positive that everyone that came to the house to trick-or-treat, came to see him. He always wore a costume that drew tons of attention from everyone. He loved it!

[labblab]

Awww Kathy, I love seeing your avatar of Buddy again in his thunder lizard outfit.

I'm already missing Peg so much today, of course . But I'm bustling around trying to get the house and food ready for tonight.

Hopefully Bud and Peg and everybody else will have a grand party of their own tonite. But how we wish they were still here.

[labblab]

Well, we made it through Halloween night. For the most part, things were OK and since our friends were here I stayed pretty focused on hostessing and the trick-or-treaters. Luna also did OK, but actually kind of went off by herself most of the time instead of hanging out with the humans. She always depended on Peg to be the leader when anything out of the ordinary was going on, so maybe she was feeling a little uncertain about things.

I left the Halloween decorations up until today, but will now swap them out for Thanksgiving. Once again, though, things aren't quite right and I'm feeling pretty low this morning. Complicated by the fact that Luna has been having some off-and-on GI issues for a couple of weeks now which is very unusual for her. I went ahead and took her in to the vet this morning because my home cures aren't solving the problem (some vomiting and loose stools). I really wasn't all that worried before heading in, but after he weighed her and she's lost nearly four pounds for no good reason, I'm feeling a lot less happy now . So we're doing bloodwork and stool sampling, and I've got some metronidazole and probiotics to give her. And probably it is nothing serious at all, but I just feel paranoid so soon after losing Peg. So my heart is even heavier this morning, especially because at the vet's I was awaiting alongside a sweet man with his sweet old dog who was probably not going to be making the trip back home again.

Just all-round a crappy morning, guys. Thank goodness I can come here and talk after having a bit of a cry.