We decided to take Spooner to the vet and let her go today. It wasn't an easy decision, but I know I would have lost sleep over scheduling it a few days off. She was a great dog, and we all miss her a lot. I'm finding that grieving is difficult enough - it's even harder to walk through with my children. But I am glad that my husband and I can help them through their first real experience of grief.

Spooner came into our lives at a particularly difficult time. My husband was losing his position as pastor of a small church, and she was a great comfort to us during that time. My mom often said that we should have named her "Aloe" because she was so soothing for us. She helped my husband and I welcome two children into our family and loved them just as she loved us.She even welcomed a cat into our family for a short time. (It was always fun to watch the two of them play and wrestle.)

It's oddly appropriate that I'm writing this tribute in a month when I'm blogging around the theme of "food." I often told people, "I know that animal looks like a dog, but she's really a pig." Spooner never saw a crumb of food that she wouldn't snarf up! I often had to make sure someone stayed at the table if we had food on it so that she wouldn't jump up and finish someone's meal for them. She did a great job of keeping my kitchen floor clean - now who's going to clean up all the food that gets dropped on the floor?