We were in the middle of a sad drive home from the Vet yesterday. There had been a long silence. Minutes before this we had finished saying Good Bye to Ciro, a family member for close to 19 years.
Susan broke the silence with the question, “Who’s going to boss us around now”? It was so true. Ciro had trained his humans well to meet all his needs. Specially as he aged the last five years. We used to say the house was his house. He just allowed us to show up at the end of each day and feed him. Fill his water bowl and keep his litter box cleaned out. And….if we screwed up, he was sure to let us know. He could be very vocal. He allowed us to sleep in the house too.
His presence will be missed. His bossiness was a fraction of his huge personality. A personality so large it filled the house. So large there was a void missing in our home this morning when we started our morning routine.
Maybe some day when the loss doesn’t hurt so bad, we’ll have a new boss. Until then we’ll have to muddle through on our own with our hearts aching.
four season cycling 
I’m sad to hear of your loss. There is no way we can truly know/understand what you two are going through, but your skillful narrative communicated the situation in remarkably relate-ble way.
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Thanks Christopher. Sometimes I think we become more attached to our pets than we do for other humans. I remember back when my wife had a Border Collie. If she had been forced to choose between me and him, I’m not sure I would have been her first choice.
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There is a sign in our kitchen that reads. “Husband and dog missing. 25 cent reward for the dog.”
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The most loving thing we do for our pets is the most difficult.
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This is the third pet we’ve lost to old age or illness in the past 5 years. Each time we made the decision to end the suffering because their quality of life and dignity were gone. We’re taught in life that things get easier the more you do it. Not in this case. I think it gets harder each time.
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Thinking of you and Susan. I don’t think it does get any easier when loss is concerned.
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Thanks for thinking of us.
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My thoughts are with you both on the loss of your beloved Ciro. It never gets any easier or less heartbreaking but may you find some comfort knowing he had a wonderful life and the best of care.
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Thanks Joan. He did have a wonderful life. Susan did the most wonderful thing for him on his last day. She stayed home from work to spend the day with him. Back in 2001 when Susan and I spent six months hiking the AT Ciro spent that time living with her Mother in Illinois. The two of them had a morning routine where they’d sit down and have a piece of toast together. Keep in mind Ciro was the pickiest of picky eaters. I think there were three things he would eat. Anyway, her mother would fix a piece of toast for herself with butter and jam and a second piece of toast with just butter for Ciro. He would get to sit on the table and lick all the butter off the toast. He was not allowed on tables at our house. It was their one to one time together. On Tuesday Susan went out and bought some white bread and real butter. She fixed him buttered toast three times that day. He really seemed to perk up each time she gave him a piece of toast. I thought that was so special.
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