Wednesday, April 23, 2008

White Flowering Dogwood

White Flowering Dogwood
Cornus florida 'Cherokee Princess'

Our Molly dog went to heaven yesterday. As much as that hurts it was quite obvious that it was time to help her along. We stayed up with her the night before and her breathing was labored and shallow. She actually stopped breathing a couple of times only to start again. When she stopped drinking that was kind of a benchmark for me. We decided to call her doctor to see if we could ease her discomfort and he came yesterday morning. I have been real sad but at the same time relived that Molly is not struggling anymore. Our other dog, Ruby Tuesday the Border Collie, is stunned. She is 4 years old now and they were like sisters. I am thankful I still have a dog.


Siberian Huskies by nature are fun loving, carefree, curious, and free spirited. Molly had all those qualities in abundance. She had many other attributes that made her, as her doctor said, ‘exceptional’. I was kidding him saying that he probably said that about all dogs but he really thought a lot of her. We did too, as did most humans that knew her. I am glad that you can’t see me right now as I am very emotional.


Here is a picture of her in West Palm Beach in February of 2007. You can see she was beauty even at 11 years of age. Molly was beautiful on the inside as well as the outside. She pretty much went everywhere with us including Maine, Canada a couple of times and Florida four times. The cancer ravaged her in a few short months.

“Good night, sweet princess. Ran fast, jump high, cuddle softly and make friends, just like you always did.”

Molly, whose full name was Molokai (after the Hawaiian Island) Falcon Feather (I always give my animals an Indian name), is at peace now. Thank goodness it was probably hard work bring us all that joy, happiness and laughter.

I thought it would be fitting to post a picture of a Dogwood today. It is one of my favorite trees. I like the whole Cherokee series of Dogwoods and this white flowered one is a heavy and early flowerer.

Remember Our Love

I was chosen today
I'm learning to fly
the world took me away,
but please don't you cry


And I chose you today
to try and be strong
so please don't you cry
and don't say that I'm gone

When you're feeling alone
just remember our love,
I'm up near the stars
looking down from above.

Remember our love

In a moment you'll see
that I'm still here
beside you
when
you're thinking of me.


Julie Epp

7 comments:

i beati said...

What a wonderful life she had - all that travel and love- maybe you can get another friend for Ruby . There are so many animals destroyed each year. My dog Petrille is ravaged with cancer for the second time in her life . She is 21 ,first time at 12. I know I will know too. It is hard but you can know you did all the best and she loved you back. It's the every days with our pets that count- the quality we give them everyday. I hate to be away from mine too long at any stretch.They are my very best friends- all rescues.. no dogwood in Fl I miss them

Les said...

I am so sorry for you.

When I hear of people who won't or can't have dogs -- it is impossible for me to even imagine what a hole there would be in my life without them.

Jane O' said...

I totally sympathize with you. We had to put our 12 year old dog down last week. I didn't blog about it because it was too hard. She had severe kidney failure. I am so sorry for the loss of your pet.

I stopped by originally to give you an award. When you are up to it, please stop by to pick it up.

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry about your pup. My friend recently lost her cat to cancer as well and it has been hard on her.

It's amazing how much impact our pets have on our lives.

Ki said...

Ahh, such a terrible loss for you. We still shed a tear after many years for our bull mastiff and bull terrier we lost all too soon.

Sometimes I think for us humans death may be a release from the insults and injuries acquired during a long life but not so for our short lived animal companions.

I just read a short synopsis of the book "Dog Man". It's about how this one man in Japan essentially rescued the whole breed of Akita dog from extinction. The breed is known for loyalty and the article related the story of a Japanese professor who went to work one day and suffered a heart attack and died. His Akita, Hachiko would meet him at the train station everyday and continued to do so for the next 11 years after the professor's death. Here's an article about this famous dog. Our dogs were nothing like that Akita but they sure had their own endearing qualities. My best to you.

Priscilla George said...

I'm so sorry to hear about Molly. It's always hard to lose a loved furry one especially no matter how much time they have been with you. At least she is no longer in pain any more. Interesting dogwood, I love the green it has in it.

Digital Flower Pictures said...

Ki that is an interesting story. My Mom had an Akita and it was a very complex and nice dog.

jane marie, sorry for your loss. I guess I know what you are going through. Sucks, doesn't it. Thanks for the award. I will come over to your site this weekend.

misti, les and vanilla and sandy, thank you for taking the time to comment. It helped a lot.

Chris