Saturday, January 13, 2007

Tribute to Reilly Blue

Another wonderful Labrador has left us. Reilly Blue died from hemangiosarcoma on 12 January. He touched many lives in his complicated life. You can read more about Reilly in various preceeding posts. He was the son of my Buckaroo and came to live with us when he was 8 1/2 years old. His original family, who lived in NYC, had serious health issues and wanted to find Reilly a new happy home, so I offered to take him. This picture is from our wedding anniversary picnic in July of 2004. I love his expression, caught as I give him a cuddle and a kiss - contented joy. We loved Reilly very much - despite some of the bad habits he brought with him. I helped him move past most of them and always enjoyed his happy spirit. But when good friends lost one of the Labs they had gotten from me and needed a buddy for the remaining old guy, we let them take Reilly. We knew he would be well loved and he loved them from the first day - but partly I let him go because he was only 3 days younger than 2 of my other dogs (Obi and Gwen) and I had just gone though a long spell of saying good-bye to too many old Lab friends who were too close in age. Now, I think they were all looking out for me when they brought the opportunity for Reilly to live with our friends. It was hard to let him go then, but it would have broken my heart even more if he had stayed and died now - only 2 months after Gwendolyn and 7 months after Obi. I shed my tears in memory of his robust, happy spirit. Good-bye and Godspeed Reilly Blue - I'm glad we all were able to give you a happy life - you brought us all much joy.