My parents raised nine children the best way they knew how and I'm so very thankful to have them both as parents.
They are now in their upper seventies and retired, relaxing on their farm in Missouri. They used to have cattle, goats and pigs for a time but these days it's mostly a few chickens. Mom crochets lots of afghans and Dad reads, rides his four-wheeler around the farm and takes care of his
chickens.
For the past thirteen years or so, they have had a dog named Ducky.
He has been the light of their retired years. Riding the four wheeler all over the farm with Dad, chasing squirrels, rabbits and any other wild animal he happens to cross.
Then about a year after they got Ducky, they got a little female dog and named her "Little Bit".
These two dogs, I tell ya! They have been treated just as us kids were growing up. One of them (or both) are in one of my parent's lap most of the time.
Sometimes Little Bit gets jealous of Ducky and they fight over scraps of food or chewed up bones. But each night, they go together to their kennels and sleep beside each other in the mud room.
They have been my parent's children since all of us have grown up and moved away. They have always been there when we went home for visits it seems like FOREVER. They are part of the family.
So, we were all concerned when Ducky got into a fight with some other dogs over Little Bit. He's old and didn't fare the fight very well. They ended up taking him to the vet and sadly, had to put him down due to the wounds.
Dad and Mom were crushed.
Then after Ducky was gone, Little Bit stopped eating. She searched everywhere for Ducky. She would no longer sleep in her kennel beside his but slept on the couch. My parents took her to the vet but she died in Mom's lap one week to the day after Ducky died. It seems, of a broken heart.
There's no doubt that Little Bit loved Ducky. She didn't want to live without him. There's NO doubt that Dad and Mom loved both dogs. Now, they have to learn to live without them.
As Alfred Lord Tennyson once said, "'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all."
Rest in Peace
Ducky & Little Bit
October 2016