Dear Murphy,

This morning I woke up to the awful news. At first I wasn't sad, just in shock. But as I spoke to Mom about what happened, the tears began to flow. I am so sorry you had to go through all of that pain. I'm so sorry that you couldn't speak and tell anyone what was wrong. I hope you weren't hurting for too long. I have broken down 3 times already at work today thinking about you, and mostly about the loss Dad is feeling. He loves you so much and I just can't imagine how he feels. Lyndsey said he went down and just looked at your crate 3 seperate times last night. :(

I hope that you are in a happy place. I hope you are chasing all the deer you want, and are peeing on as many trees as you please. Please tell me there is a garden wherever you are, and that you will be able to eat the tomatoes when they get too ripe and fall off the vine.

We will never forget what a kind and loving soul you are.

I love you.

Love,

Ashley

Dear Mabel,

With heavy hearts we said goodbye to you in October of last year nearly 4 years after you beagled into our lives on a Christmas day. We knew your were an elderly girl at the time, but you were very hardy and really did great until the last month or so of your life. You were my first beagle but won't be my last. I know know why my husband is so in love with the breed. You were the most affectionate, funny and LOUD dog I have ever met. All that in a 20lb old lady. I miss you hustling up to me and heaving a big sigh as you sat down in front of me and demanded your petting time. We spent lots of nights on the couch together. Knowing you taught me about being happy to be alive, about relishing a good smell (not necessarily a pleasant one), about loving the winter sun and the airconditioning on a hot summer day. When we arrived at a park for a walk, everybody could hear you as you barked and carried on while we unloaded all the dogs from the car. Bunnies and squirrels were wise to take notice. I loved the way you greeted every meal with such enthusiasm that you would bark with joy, lifting your front feet off the ground and making your ears blow back! We planted your ashes under a new red maple in the back yard and I greet your tree every morning. I am finally writing this today to honor the anniversary of Pushkin's passing. I hope you are both making noise and running the show where ever you are now.

Love,

Beth & Keith, Sophie, Sam, Roo, Grace and Floyd

Dear Sierra,

It’s been three weeks since I made the hardest decision of my life, the decision to let you go. I still struggle with whether or not it was too soon. Should I have waited one more day? I wanted you to be with me forever.

I’m sorry I did not educate myself sooner or find resources sooner to help me with your renal disease. I hope you can forgive me. I don’t know how I missed the warning signs. And then you just progressed so quickly. I know all the work travel and being away from you did not help. And I am so sorry I was not strong enough to say no to the travel until the very end. I am grateful I was able to bring you home and nurse you for the last weeks of your life. I will never forget how you seemed so grateful for everything I did for you. Your tail wagging even when I know you weren’t feeling well.

You have taught me so much over the last 13 years. Stop and look up at the stars, take a deep breath and sigh, it’s ok to rest your head on someone else’s shoulder and take a rest, have patience with children and the elderly, slow down what’s the rush, enjoy your food it’s so good, snow is wonderful to play in, stretch out in the grass on a sunny day it’s good for the soul, the woods are one of the best places to be, listen to the quiet, don’t work so much have some fun, give people a chance you might find a new friend and so much more…..

I promise you I will try to remember all the things you taught me. I’m only human so I hope you will give me a nudge from heaven when I need one.

I think of you and miss you every day. I hope you know how much I loved you and still love you. I miss singing to you in the morning “good morning, good morning, good morning to you” and you my snuggle bunny giving me a grin and kiss. I miss you when I come home to our empty house, no wiggle butt greeting me. I know I told you a million times but it bears repeating, you were the best puppy in the whole wide world and adopting you was the best thing I’ve done in my life!

I’ll love you forever.

Love,

Mama

Dear Allie,

It was 2 years on January 8th. I still miss you everyday. I find myself thinking about you and the tears just come. I will never get over losing you and I pray that I will see you in Heaven someday. We never had any idea that you had cancer and I am so grateful that I didn't have to watch you suffer with it. I will always hold a special place in my heart just for you. You were there for me through alot of sad times and of course alot of happy times. I miss you being pressed up against me in bed at night so much. I miss those eyes that held so much love in them. I miss your kisses and the way you were always my shadow. I will always love you and I am so grateful for the 10 years we had together. I love you my precious girl.

Missing You,

Mommy

Dear Murray,

The day I saw you on Petfinder I knew you were meant to be mine. When we went to the shelter and you were gone my heart was broken. But somehow two weeks later you came back and I didn't let you get away this time. My furry Murray cat...the way you ran to the top of the cat tree I thought you would one day tip it over or fall off but you never did. Those few times you decided to venture outside without me knowing scared me to death...thank you for not going far! I miss you purring in my lap and chasing you around trying to get the hair out of your mouth after you groomed yourself. When the vet told me you had a heart defect that only large dogs usually get I was in shock but vowed to do anything we could to make you comfortable. It was hard not knowing when your little heart would give out but you took all your pills like a champ and we had some good quality time a lot longer than they all thought. After we lost your sister Squirty it sure was tough because we could not be there with her. The day your heart finally gave out was tough to see but I am glad I could be with you to help calm you and send you to the bridge from my arms. It was very hard to lose you and Squirty at such a young age but I hope you enjoyed living with us as much as we enjoyed having you in our family.....miss you and love you Murmeister!

Love,

Mom

Dear Squirt,

I did not even know you were sick. You were such a strong little munchkin girl and never showed any signs. That phone call I got on vacation was awful...to have you be so sick and have to make that decision from so far away. Not being with you at the end was one of the hardest things ever...I hope you know how much I loved you and how much I wanted to be there holding you as you slipped away...to hear me talking to you and be able to see me there with you. The day I met you and you jumped out of the crate into my arms...those short little legs you were the cutest thing ever! I will never figure out how someone could just dump you outside when you were pregnant to fend for yourself...I am so sorry your babies did not make it but I sure am glad they saved you. Not many people had ever seen a munchkin cat and you were a great one! My little biker kitty! The toughest furkid in the house for sure...

I sure do miss you running around the house with those milk rings in your mouth growling like you caught a mouse! Or head bumping me from behind when you wanted some attention as I sat in my chair...

Please find Murray and Riggs and Maiijja and wait for me at the bridge so one day we can be together again....I love you and miss you little Squirtacious....my Low Rider kitty....

Love,

Mom

Dear Riggs,

We moved into this home and adopted you the same weekend. The house is not the same without you in it. You were my momma's boy and my shadow.... now you are my angel. How I miss playing ball with you and your gorgeous blue eyes. You overcame many fears throughout your life and even became a AKC Canine Good Citizen...I was so proud of you for that. We had fun trying agility and you trusted me so much that you did everything I asked you to try!

I am sorry I could not do more for you and I hope you were not in too much pain toward the end. It was so hard to see you try and play and not be able to...or when you would bark at us because you could no longer go up and down the stairs. But those nights when you could not even find a comfortable way to lay down and sleep I knew it was time to let you go....there will always be doubts about if it was the right time that I will have to live with. But I could not see you suffer and be in pain and it sure wasn't fair to just keep giving you pain killers to delay the inevitable. I am so glad we took you on vacation with us this past summer and had that special time together. That is when I noticed you were having troubles walking but you were strong and still had fun! I am not sure how or when you injured your back but I hope we helped you to be as confortable as we could. Please wait for me at the bridge and find Tamaiijja....Murray....Squirt and all the rest and have fun...chase the volleyball and run without pain. Hopefully those thunderstorms don't scare you as much anymore either...I should have sent your Thundershirt with you....

I am still fostering dogs in your memory and we found a new family member that I am sure you led me to...his name is Ammo and he is very much like you. Loves to play ball...barks like you.... and is a momma's boy...thanks for sending him our way....

Mr. Riggs Rutherford you will always be in my heart and I miss you everyday....love you....

Love,

Momma

Dear Baby,

October 1994, I called the shelter and you were the first kitten on the list of adoption. You were in foster care and when I came to see you my heart melted and I knew my life would never be the same.

But my worst nightmare has come true and I had to let you go. After 18 years and 4 months by my side your little body could not do it anymore and to make you stay here for me would not be right. You fought cancer like a champ and gave me one more year with you. Letting you go was and will be the hardest thing I will ever do.

You stood with me through every hard day I had. Every night I sat awake, every pain I ever had, every time I thought I could not go on. You were there and gave me a reason to stay. You gave me a reason to live you gave me strength to go on because I knew that I needed to be here for you.

My heart is breaking and I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what it is to live without you. Your Kitty sister looks for you. She goes to the bedroom and looks in and waits.

My girls, I called you my girls. My two little girls. I would do anything for one more time to hold you, to tell you how you saved me.

How has 18 years gone by so fast, how are you not in bed waiting to go to sleep. Waiting for me to make your food, waiting for me to cover you when you laid down to sleep.

You made me laugh, you made me smile when I thought I could not, you made me know that I was not alone.

I know I got mad when you hid before we went to the vet or before we got in the car. Or when you got on the rafters when I needed to put you in the bedroom when someone was coming to fix something at home.

But when I cried, you were there and you never left me. You would stay all day and all night. I can never tell you how much I love you. Word will never express how much you mean. I love you. My girl, my Baby, my heart.

Love,

Mommy

Dear Skye,

It has been exactly a year now since you left our family and went to live with Jesus on his great big house in the clouds and we all miss you. I made you a promise that I would write you every year on this day so here is my letter.

We all miss you a lot Skye and wish you were still here with us but anyhow, here are the updates. First of all, Luke got a new kitten! Her name is Lucy-Lou and she is adorable! Keyko loves her as she always is really good with cats, but Tayko hates her! It's really funny because the two of them sit and growl at each other all the time but they never actually get into a fight or anything! Now for some bad news. Luke got sick so he was in the hospital for quite a while but he'll be ok. As for me, I'm back horseback riding so that makes me really happy! Mum and dad really miss you too but dad doesn't want to het another dog since we might be moving to a smaller house and we already have 2 cats and a dog to worry about. Me and mum always talk about what kind of a dog we want to get anyways! Being at camp this summer was really weird without you because for my whole life, you and me always had so much fun together in the summer! I wish I could have done that much with you the rest of the year but daddy would never let you inside. I'm really sorry that you had to live outside, you must have gotten really lonely. Oh well, we have to remember the good times not bad right? You were such a good dog, even when you were bad, and you were the most loyal friend ever, always there when I needed you. And even though you were my dog, you were the best sister of all.

I love you Skye, and I promise, I will always love you. Even when I'm one hundred years old.

Love you always, E.S.

Missing You,

E.S.

Dear "Kellie",

When you were 6wks. old I knew something was wrong with your eyes as they did not open all the way as your other 3 siblings.My husband said to go ahead and give you away to someone,but my heart said no.The Dr. said you had a birth defect and would never see in your lifetime,but for 17 wonderful years I had with you,you saw us.You were one Amazing little dog and never seemed to care or know you were different.You brought such joy and Love into our lives with you being here and Hubby nicknamed you "TweetHeart".When you were 4yrs. old I brought home a 6wks. old Pom,who we named and you knew as "Dundee".He was solid white like you and loved you so much.When you left us on 11/29/11 at the Drs. office and we brought you back home to "rest" Dundee still looks and searches for you.He got so bad after 3wks.of us both grieving I had to start paying attention to him,being the age of 13yrs. now ,I was afraid I would lose him too.He's doing a lot better ,but stays close to me.I can't bring myself to move your bed or blanket yet,I just want something of you still here.He gets in it every once in awhile checking your scent,and I still look toward it and can picture you there.I ordered you a beautiful grave marker and it has your picture ,poem,and a big Pink Heart on it,with your Nickname "TweetHeart."I'm trusting God to have a Place for wonderful creatures as you and I saw you in a dream and the sun was shining on you and you turned your head and Looked at me and actually saw me for the first time.I hope that was God's way of telling me He had you and you'll be fine.We'll never forget you My Kellie,and you are resting beside your Moma at the front of the yard where you use to chase squrriels that you could hear and not see.Lord help me when Dundee's time comes as I've turned All my affection to him,and he's become the most precious consoler I have,but I will place him beside you,where he stayed when you were here.You Look for me when my time comes as I will be Looking for you and all the others that's went on before you.For the first time you will be able to SEE me because you already know how much you were Loved and now Missed so badly,it just don't seem the same without you.Play in the Sun,TweetHeart" and we'll All be together again SomeDay,in God I'm Trusting that WILL Happen.Untill then We Love you,and You will Never be "Forgotten". Always in My Heart******Your Human Moma, Barbara & Dundee.

Missing You,

Barbara,Joe,& Dundee