Saying Goodbye

My late brother, Claude Martin Salamon

Hi folks, Lily the Corgi here.  It's been an eventful couple of weeks since I've written, some of it great and some of it horrible.  Let me tell you about it...

My mama and daddy have a whole batch of nieces and nephews ranging in age from 15 months to 29 years old.  My parents have always enjoyed taking some of the kids on vacations, but this year my daddy has a new job and not enough vacation time to take a trip.  So they decided to have a "Staycation" with some of the kids--the ones between 4 and 13 years old.  In fact, they had TWO Staycations--one week for the boys (Joe, Kyle, Connor, and Jake) and one week for the girls (Gabby, Alicia, Kathleen and Isabelle.)  Mama had planned a bunch of great day-trips to the water park, nature center, lake, car races, etc... for the kiddos to enjoy.

Well, right off the bat, there was trouble.  Less than an hour into the boys' Staycation, Connor got sick and threw up in my mama's truck; luckily, the mess landed on Connor and his booster seat and NOT on mama's vehicle.  My Uncle Mike took Connor home since he was sick so there were just 3 boys that week.  One day they saw an ALBINO SQUIRREL!  I wish I'd have been there--I'd have chased that guy until he turned even whiter!

Mama and the boys saw this albino squirrel in a state park!

Having the boys for a week was pretty nice.  They like to watch movies on tv while sitting on the couch, which means they are just in the perfect position to pet me.  At the end of the week, the parents came and took the boys away and left off the girls, plus Connor!  And so we started the whole Staycation routine over again.  The smaller children really like me, because I'm low to the ground and easy to pet and play with.  My sister Lucy is also a favorite since she is also short.  My neurotic sister Sadie allows a little petting sometimes, but she's not really a fan of kids.  And my grouchy brother Claude, who's been having health problems for several months, was just too tired to get up and move so he got more petting than he probably would have liked.

As the week went on, it became apparent that old Claude was having a lot more trouble getting around.  He had pretty much lost complete control of his bladder an bowels.  When mama and the kids came home on Friday evening, poor old Claude was just too tired to get up.  He even had to have his head propped up on mama's chest to eat--as a red-blooded corgi it is difficult for me to imagine being too sick or tired to eat! Our vet had told mama and daddy a few weeks ago that when Claude's problems progressed further, it would probably be the kindest thing to consider euthanasia.  Mama got hold of the parents and my Aunt Jennifer said she'd come get the kids that night.

Mama and daddy explained to the kids what was happening and there was a lot of crying.  All the kids spent the next couple of hours packing and hugging on Claude (and might I add, no one was loving on me!)  Then the kids left and mama and daddy paid extra attention to Claude while they talked and petted and cried.  The next day, Claude wouldn't even try to move his feet when mama would hold them--Claude HATES it when mama messes with his feet--and mama said she knew that was his way of telling her he was ready to go.  Mama and daddy had my sisters and me say goodbye to Claude, then they put us in our room while they gave Claude some ice cream and took him on a ride with the windows down so he could feel the breeze.  Then they went to the vet's office where Dr Lynch got down on the floor with Claude and gave him some medicine that made him feel all peaceful and well and new and healthy, but after that Claude couldn't come home to us; mama said he went to live in a much nicer place with Jesus.  I think his new place sounds pretty cool and mama said we'd all go there someday but right now she needed us girls to stay with her.

As you know, since I'm the head honcho around the house, I had to be responsible for keeping Claude in line through the past several years. Claude and I didn't always get along perfectly but he had his moments.  He and I had some pretty vicious fights over the years, and I know he could have really hurt me since he was so much bigger, but he never did.  Mama said there's a bridge made of rainbows and Claude will meet us there when we are ready to go live with Jesus, too.   I'm glad the old guy isn't hurting anymore and that he can see and hear again.  I wish mama and daddy weren't so sad about him leaving; I know they gave him the best care they could ever since they took him from that old animal shelter and gave him a nice home, good food and WONDERFUL sisters.

The old man just a few days before he died; you could tell he was not feeling well, but he still managed a smile.

Well, that's it for this time, everyone.  Take care of yourselves and give your doggies a little extra hug in memory of my grouchy old brother.  And Claude, I'll see you at that rainbow bridge someday, but for now I'm going to stay here with mama and daddy for a while.

Love ya,

Lily the Corgi

All of us on a squirrel hunt a few months ago.