When there was no baby...

When there was no baby, this was our baby. We had Romeo for almost 7 years. He was super playful, always loyal, and incredibly smart. He loved french fries more than any other food. His mouth would water and huge spit bubbles would puddle around the corner of his mouth at the mere mention of french fries. Last weekend, we took him back to Kosciusko with us to work on our old house. We didn't bring enough food for the weekend, so while I was getting me and Robert some dinner, I went ahead and ordered him a hamburger and french fries for himself. Spoiled. Rotten.

He's seen us through a move from Florence to Kosciusko, then from Kosciusko to Cleveland. He was there when we lost our baby, when we had all the youth at our house week in and week out, he was always so excited to see us as soon as we got home, even if we'd only been gone to the grocery store or out to eat dinner.

He would pace in front of the door if Robert worked late or if he was out of town. He really missed Robert when he was gone. He and Robert walked every day. You couldn't even say the word "walk" with him in the room, or you would suddenly be met with a 90lb dog in your lap ready to do just that!

The choice to have him put to sleep was horrendous. In the past months, he has battled arthritis in one of his legs. He could barely get on the couch, much less in the bed. Using the bathroom was even harder for him. Along with hurting, he became very aggressive. In general, he was always very playful and docile, but in the past 2 months, you could tell that he was just not himself. He still loved to go walking, but it took all he had to just do that. We were picking him up almost every night to put him in the bed. He slept most of the day. The hardest choice was to recognize that his quality of life was not good. If we let him continue to live the way he was, he would hurt more, be more aggressive, and less like the happy, sweet Romeo we knew.

We loved him very much. The thought of him not being here to snuggle with, to play with, to pet, and to just be with is sad. But those are all selfish reasons to continue to let him suffer. Our baby is now resting. He doesn't hurt, he doesn't limp. Our hearts our broken and will be for a while, but we are so thankful for the time we had him.