Saying Goodbye

After almost 12 years, lots of highchair scraps and dog hair everywhere we said goodbye to our Katie dog. Most of the time we just called her Doggie, that's why our kids never went through that stage where they call every dog their own dog's name (our nephew called all dogs Ottos, seriously adorable) instead they thought every dog was named Doggie.

Katie was diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure last Tuesday. The vet told us she had 6 to 8 months left. Instead we got 6 days. On Monday morning she just couldn't breathe anymore, she was panting frantically and in so much pain. Greg and I made the painful decision to take her to the vet and end her life. The medicine that she was on just wasn't helping and she was miserable. We could tell that she was frightened and in pain.

Greg picked up the kids from school and gave them a chance to say goodbye. We cried and cried and then took her to the animal hospital. Greg carried her into that little room where we waited for the vet. I held her while they prepped her and then almost before we knew it she was gone. Finally she relaxed and she wasn't hurting anymore.

It's been heartbreaking. She was the best dog ever. So good to the kids, such a mellow animal. Just absolutely perfect. I've never considered myself a dog person and I'm still not a huge fan of them in general but Doggie, she was special. I keep looking over expecting to see her laying by my desk but there's just an empty spot where her blanket used to be.

You might wonder what this has to do with money and it doesn't. Except it kinda does. See never once during this process did we have to stop and figure out how to pay to care for our Katie dog. We have our little emergency fund so the thought of how to pay for all of this never crossed our minds. Instead we were able to take care of her, comfort the kids and know that even though our hearts are broken we're not worried about bounced checks or credit card bills.

That's why we're working so hard and budgeting so carefully. We want to be able to grieve and mourn and laugh and enjoy the moments that come our way rather than being burdened by debt. We are paying a really high price right now. Greg and I are both working very hard. We're budgeting every dollar that we get so that we have money for emergencies and so that we don't get behind on our bills. We're sacrificing like crazy right now so that the next time life happens how we're going to pay for the crisis isn't our first thought.