goodbye, coletrane

We said our goodbyes to Coletrane today. I've been thinking about how to write about it, what to say, how to put into words everything that's going through my mind. Everything I type either feels like it comes up short, or over dramatizes my emotions about a dog.

Firstly though, I want to say that the family who took him is awesome. You know how you can tell how some people are dog people and some people are very much not dog people? These people were definitely dog people, but more importantly - they're dog people who love big dogs. Cole jumped all over them and smothered their four year daughter with kisses within two minutes of the family coming through the door - and they loved it!

It was a match made in heaven.

We hadn't expected them to be ready to take him after only spending about forty-five minutes with Cole, but we gave them the good, the bad, and the ugly, and hadn't scared them off yet. The family said they'd love to officially make Cole a part of their family today. So....we packed all of Cole's stuff, said a quick goodbye, and off he went.

This is the first time in three years that Cole didn't greet us at the door when we came back home from running errands. It's the first time he didn't sit outside the door and guard our family while we gave Jude a bath, and the first time he didn't try to sneak outside when I was bringing in the line dried cloth diapers.

Shawn and I are both heavy hearted to see a friend leave, but we're 100% sure that it's what is best for him. We're going to miss a lot about that dog, but I won't miss him getting the brunt of my frustrations and the lack of my attention. I won't miss Jude trying to climb into Cole's water dish, I won't miss cleaning up his "accidents" in our carpet, I won't miss getting pet hair on my fabrics, and I won't miss his barking needlessly at our neighbors.

There's no doubt that Cole will not be our last dog - we're both just dog people through and through. There will come a day again when we have the time and energy to love a dog the way it needs. There won't ever be another dog like Cole, though. We've been through a lot together. While giving him away was the necessary thing to do, it was kind of like giving away a piece of our history, a part of ourselves.

I have to be honest and admit that I've been thinking of a way to end this post for about ten minutes now. There's nothing succinct and expressive enough to well enough convey my thoughts, so I'll just say, "Goodbye Cole. We love you very much, and we feel like you've been the best dog we could've imagined. Thank you for being such a good friend to us, and our prayer is that you are as good to your new family as you have been to us. "