Belle
A donation was made in memory of Belle by Doctors and Staff of the Elliott Bay Animal Hospital on Nov 07, 2013.
I want to tell you about Belle.
We adopted her (she picked us) after a visit to S.A.I.N.T.S. Rescue in Mission, BC. She was in a corral with senior and sick dogs with special needs, and amidst the chaos she came and sat at our feet.
"You need to take me home," she said.
We didn't take her home. Not that day. We went back and talked about her, wrote the shelter and asked about her.
And she was right. We did need to take her home.
In December of 2010, our pack grew to encompass 12-year-old Belle, who was once Bonita. The first day she came home we sat on the couch together and shared a box of pizza.
Adopting a senior dog is different in ways you expect and ways you couldn't imagine. Her health was not the best when she came into our lives and found her forever home: chronic ear infections, stiff joints, and first-stage kidney failure had all been identified. We didn't know how long she had, but we knew we would be her Forever.
Belle celebrated her 15th birthday with us. We never expected her to be with us for so long when we adopted her, but then time passed and we grew together and fell in love in so many ways, on so many occasions.
Imagining our pack without her, imagining our lives without her, became less tangible, even as she grew older. She was a silly, sweet creature who believed with all her sweet and good heart that Gabe makes the world go round.
Knowing our time with her was limited made knowing her all the sweeter, made seeing all her accomplishments so much more joyous. We were present and mindful with her in ways you forget to be when you don't see an end.
We'd always known she was ours on borrowed time.
And it was such a gift!
Belle was diagnosed with an aggressive form of lymphoma. Our time together had an end more concrete than we could wrap our hearts around, more immediate than our minds wanted to accept.
We kept her comfortable for her last few days with us and arranged for one of the amazing vets at Elliott Bay Animal Hospital to come to our home.
Belle was such a happy, funny girl who filled our hearts with more love than can be contained. Her presence was a sweetness we were blessed to know.
And we were her Forever.
-Justus
Justus J.
We adopted her (she picked us) after a visit to S.A.I.N.T.S. Rescue in Mission, BC. She was in a corral with senior and sick dogs with special needs, and amidst the chaos she came and sat at our feet.
"You need to take me home," she said.
We didn't take her home. Not that day. We went back and talked about her, wrote the shelter and asked about her.
And she was right. We did need to take her home.
In December of 2010, our pack grew to encompass 12-year-old Belle, who was once Bonita. The first day she came home we sat on the couch together and shared a box of pizza.
Adopting a senior dog is different in ways you expect and ways you couldn't imagine. Her health was not the best when she came into our lives and found her forever home: chronic ear infections, stiff joints, and first-stage kidney failure had all been identified. We didn't know how long she had, but we knew we would be her Forever.
Belle celebrated her 15th birthday with us. We never expected her to be with us for so long when we adopted her, but then time passed and we grew together and fell in love in so many ways, on so many occasions.
Imagining our pack without her, imagining our lives without her, became less tangible, even as she grew older. She was a silly, sweet creature who believed with all her sweet and good heart that Gabe makes the world go round.
Knowing our time with her was limited made knowing her all the sweeter, made seeing all her accomplishments so much more joyous. We were present and mindful with her in ways you forget to be when you don't see an end.
We'd always known she was ours on borrowed time.
And it was such a gift!
Belle was diagnosed with an aggressive form of lymphoma. Our time together had an end more concrete than we could wrap our hearts around, more immediate than our minds wanted to accept.
We kept her comfortable for her last few days with us and arranged for one of the amazing vets at Elliott Bay Animal Hospital to come to our home.
Belle was such a happy, funny girl who filled our hearts with more love than can be contained. Her presence was a sweetness we were blessed to know.
And we were her Forever.
-Justus
Justus J.
