Kyra Remembered

So, February has been a slow month for posting things here. Not entirely sure why. Maybe the excitement of the New Year is fading into the mundane of everyday. Last week provided some extra challenges for me. Spent the week alone, while my children were, all 4 of them, even the youngest, off in other places. During their absence our old family dog passed, and I had to figure out how to manage the event by myself. It was a lonely, sad, and difficult process. I felt a little like I should somehow find a way to memorialize her, so wrote an obituary of sorts for her. It felt a little silly at first, but I decided that really it is not, so here it is:

Kyra: Feb 15, 1993-Feb 20, 2007

Sweet devoted family doggie, left us last week. Suffering from complications of old age, and arthritis, her body finally decided it had had enough. Kyra waited until 5 days after her 14th birthday, roughly 98 doggie years to give up the fight. She has been wearing the badges of old age for a few years now: multiple fatty cysts that made her look disfigured, and of course the pain and discomfort created from the complications of arthritis, especially in her hips.

So much history that accompanies our memories of Kyra. She came into our household when her human siblings were: 9, 8, 5, and 1 ½ years old. She gracefully offered herself as buffer to so much chaos, and put up with our nonsense when the craziness of our lives meant that she got lost in the chaos. She chose her moment to leave this world when the kids were all away; Paul, Justine, and Karl off traveling and/or studying away from home, and Ruth away for school break week with her father. I will always marvel at the timing of Kyra’s departure, 5 days after her birthday, and during a brief and unusual absence of all the kids.

Kyra leaves behind, besides her human family, three four legged friends: Maggie: Mini Dachshund, who is now left to take on the role of Pet Principle, a role that she has been ready, willing, and able to take on for quite some time; Casper: the most senior of the household critters, 16 ½ year old gray cat; and Smokey Joey: black cat extraordinaire, quietly keeping his distance from most of the household chaos. The house is very different without you, Kyra. You will be dearly missed.

Donna