Avoidance

I've known for the past couple of weeks that today was going to happen and there was nothing I could do about it. In an effort to avoid thinking about it, I cleaned every last corner of our house. I briefly talked about it in an older post that I received a very upsetting phone call while out shopping with my mom. This call was from my dad, telling me 1) that he was moving to a different condo right down the street, and 2) because of size restrictions and lack of a garage, he was going to have to put our dog, Franny, to sleep.

We've had Franny for as long as I can remember. If my memory is correct, I remember my mom saying that she was moving a woman (my mom works in the moving industry) who couldn't take her dog with her. The dog was a pure-bred Miniature Greyhound, only a few years old. My mom offered to take her (I think she may have paid a smallish amount for her). The only condition that the lady made was that my mom had to keep her name. Her name was St. Francis of Assisi, after the Catholic saint for animals. I always thought it was fitting, because Franny seemed to have a guardian angel watching out for her at all times. That little dog was a ball of trouble.

Well, today was the day. I was avoiding any calls from my dad, because I knew that he would call to tell me about putting her to sleep. In my mind, it wasn't real if he didn't confirm that it had happened. Well, when he called, I looked at my phone and contemplated even picking it up, but decided that he may need someone to talk to, too. He comforted me and told me that he took her for a nice, long walk yesterday and that she was happy. Tears streamed down my face as I quietly listened to him talk about her, while I thought about all of the memories we had with her and how I'd never see her again. Part of me was slightly angry at the fact that he was doing it, since it seemed like it was more of a convenience thing. But I know that there is a special place for animals in Heaven, and Franny is now our guardian angel dog. She's with my other sweet angels, Roo and Ginger. 

This is the most recent picture that I have of us together. She was 24 years old, well beyond the average lifespan of her breed.