Miss you Joz...

One month to the day....we had to say goodbye. One month to the day...I held her in my arms for the last time. Josey, our eight year old Rottweiler was finally free of the cancer that had taken over.

Five months earlier, Josey was diagnosed with osteosarcoma...bone cancer. We,...Josey, Kristina, Luna and I made the decision to fight...to Livestrong, and Josey did until the end. Thru the surgery, the chemo...she never stopped fighting, she never stopped loving....sometime I feel like she really hung on because we wanted her to, always for us.

Long and painful story short, on December 29, we said goodbye to a best friend. For now...

There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think of her, talk to her...the undying loyalty & love,the sleeping on the dirty laundry in the "office" just to be closer to us, the nudge teling me to scratch between her eyes..."you know the way I like it, dad...."

I learned infinately from her, from her fight, from her life. She made Luna into a strong, loving dog...she tough Kristina and I how to work together thru a very difficult time...she taught me what is important, and what is less important.

The night after she died, she came to visit me...just for a second or two, in my dreams...charging in on three legs, as if to say..."I am OK Dad", "I am free", I am OK". I saw her once again, shortly after, when I closed my eyes at yoga...she was frolicing in the waves somewhere, playing, bouncing, swimming...Heaven I suspect. How she loved to swim...

Yesterday, driving home, I heard Tom Petty's "Wildflower" on the radio...and it made me think of her, that all to familiar dull ache came back to my chest...but as the song played, as memories came back....a smile came to me...knowing that she's doing fine, and getting lots of love, because if you knew her for only a minute, it was impossible not to love her. I am sure she's making great friends with all the angels, chasing bunnies...I just wish she'd come back and vist me again soon...Love you Joz!