A little good news...

It may seem really soon... but on Thursday we will be the proud parents of a little 8 week old shih tzu puppy.

I am still grieving the loss of Emmitt... he was an amazing part of my life and could never be replaced. Honestly I never imagined that I would be ready for a new puppy so soon... but as terrible as Emmitt's passing was it was also something we had been preparing ourselves for. We were so lucky to have the last year with him after the "Great Pet Trauma of 2005"... but we have known since then that Emmitt was not a very healthy boy and that his cancer would probably be back. We have known for some time that our time with him was limited. And I knew that when the time came I would have to be brave and make the decision to say goodbye to him before he was in pain... It was the kindest thing to do... but the hardest decision I have had to make. His passing has been so hard on me... over the past week I have come home several times in tears because he is not here... it is so lonely here without him.

Mr. D. and I went to a local pet store yesterday to hold puppies... just to see if we both felt ready. We do. We are not replacing Emmitt... he is irreplaceable... but we hope that a new little Christmas puppy with help brighten up our lives for the holidays. The funny thing is we are not buying the puppy from a pet store... as soon as we decided to look for shih tzu pups in our area on the internet we found out that there was a family with 6 puppies ready to adopt at a reasonable -not-pet-store price price very close to our home. They are not breeders and this is their very first litter of pups. I could not believe that they lived just 10 minutes from us in the next city over because we thought we would have to drive all over the state to find healthy, home raised, reasonably priced puppies. I went today to see the pups and they are adorable and the family was so warm and caring that I know the puppy is coming from a loving well cared for home. I also got to meet the parents of the pups and see what sweet and playful little dogs they are. This just feels right.

I am off work for two weeks now so I will be able to help the new puppy get used to his new home and his 3 feline siblings... who might possible mistake him for a guinea pig since he is only about 1 pound.

I know I will still miss Emmitt. I will go and pick up his ashes tomorrow and on the next beautiful sunny day we have I will bury him in our backyard with a nice little stone marker I had made. I know Em would not want us to be alone and that he is watching out for us and helped lead us to this wonderful family with these sweet little puppies.

I know that it is very soon... but like I said before... it just feels like Emmitt would be glad to see us excited and happy about our soon to be new family member. And God knows we could use a little Christmas cheer...