We know when pets enter our lives they are likely to leave this world before us; and yet that knowledge does little to ease the pain.
They are our friends, our nurses, sometimes our comic foil, sometimes our nemesis; they are our pranksters and they are our comforters.
They sit stoically as we meander through our days; they wait for our return each day and they love us without condition. They are a part of our family that never wavers. They do not hold grudges, their temper tantrums are easily quelled by a squeaky toy or a treat.
They bring joy and sunshine into each day and to imagine all of those things not here for us is an incalculable loss.
I know we gave Pepper a good life; but he gave us a great life and if we are in the last moments, I want to remember and cherish all of the times we have shared.
As anyone who has looked at my Facebook wall for the last several years can attest - there are lots of pictures of Pepper at my feet, or at my side as I read. He was there through everything that has shaped the last nine years of our lives.
He is our lovable ball of (shedding) fur and that will always be in my heart. This picture is probably my favorite because I think it expresses exactly these sentiments.
I remember how the ads for 'Marley and Me' made me afraid to watch because this inevitability is something with which all pet owners must eventually grapple. Like Marley, Pepper did his share of destruction. No backpack was safe; no container with food; no tub of butter left out; nothing was safe from his voracious curiosity. No toy was safe as they invariably were destroyed within days if not minutes of their receipt. Nothing on any coffee table was safe from his 'Gadzooky' destructo tail.
But what else was not safe was our hearts. He shared his life with us and for that we are blessed. Pepper made Leslie and I better together and he made the lives of our four children more interesting. He helped us through some tough times with them as well.
It is difficult to see him with barely a breath to give. He looks tired. He has been the one constant on both sides of this nation. I am so grateful for his companionship and that he took this journey with us. He is our pet; but more than that he has been a part of our hearts which will never be replaced.
Pepper is love personified.
