Wilson the Wonder Dog

Yesterday was a very sad day for our family. After 14 years of having Wilson in our life, he died. First, I'll start at the beginning. Wilson was born the day after we got married on May 17, 1997. We got him from a breeder on Long Island. In June we drove out to pick out our puppy. We had narrowed it down to two and were ready to mark our pick when Wilson came walking over. We said, "Wait a minute. I think this guy likes us." So I guess you could say Wilson picked us. About 6 weeks later we drove out again to bring our baby home. Puppy Wilson had a wonderful life. We were a young, outdoors couple who took him walking around the lake, hiking in the mountains and camping all over, including a long road trip to New Mexico. Wilson loved a party and often left home looking for more people to hang with. One time we drove around the neighborhood trying to find him and he was at a big party- winning over the hearts of everyone there. Wilson helped us meet people from the neighborhood. Often people would say- Oh- I know you- you live with Wilson. Sometimes Justin would jokingly call him a pound puppy and one day he lived up to that name. While Justin was sick in bed, he ran away. When the dog catcher said, "Come", he ran right into her van. We bailed him out. Eventually Wilson had to start sharing our attention with our new babies (human this time.) At first he was not a big fan of the colicky screaming baby. But soon Laurel started to eat Cheerios and he realized he had a wonderful new food source of something other than IAMS. Soon Laurel and Owen grew big enough to play with Wilson. He never knew what to expect but he always kept his temper in check.
So here we are fourteen years later. It has been a very sad week. Wilson started to get sick on Monday. After several days we finally had to bring him to the vet yesterday. It was so hard to say good-bye to someone who has lived in our house for 14 years. Laurel and Owen had never known a time without him. But we knew we had a lot of good memories and we wanted to keep it that way.
Anyone who has said goodbye to a pet knows- words cannot express how sad it is. All of those daily routines suddenly become painful reminders that someone is missing. When I walked to the bus stop for the first time without Wilson I knew Laurel and Owen would know why he was not there. Owen saw me and tried to remain optimistic. He hopefully asked, "Wilson didn't feel up to leaving the house?" My eyes filled with tears. I told them he was in doggy heaven. The four of us walked home very quietly. News quickly spread through the neighborhood. Moms stopped to say they were sorry. Friends sent text messages. Everyone was sad.
But there are a few things I am grateful for. First of all I feel lucky that I had such a wonderful dog for 14 happy years. Second, as sad as it is to see Laurel and Owen experiencing this real loss, I am happy their first close experience with death was with a pet rather than a human. It is so hard to realize how permanent death is and how hard it is to wish you appreciated someone more when they were around. But at least now they know that reality and the importance of trying to make every day a great day because you just never know.
Thank you Wilson- We were so lucky to have you. As Justin would always say- Wilson loves love. He was always ready to give it and take it. Let us all be a little more like Wilson!:)