You Were My Baby Boy…

Pet people will get it.  Non-pet people may not.

Hershey came into our lives over 13 years ago.  A sweet little chocolate lab puppy that was the runt of the litter.

At the time, our family consisted of two girls:  Alex (10) and Sam (6), and one more baby on the way.  Little did we know that our 2 legged baby would be another girl and that Hershey would be our baby boy.

And what a sweet baby boy he was – right from day one.

He was Tim’s best buddy (Tim’s only comrade in arms against all the female hormones of the house).

He was Gabi’s friend from the moment she was born.  She would crawl onto his dog bed and snuggle with him.

He was Sam’s friend, who put up with Sam’s cat Rothko, until Rothko passed away about a year ago.

He was Alex’s best buddy, after Alex’s cat passed away (many years ago).  Alex would curl up on the couch with Hershey and snuggle with him.

And then came Elena and Nicole, the daycare babies…

From the wee age of 3 months Elena loved Hershey…and Hershey loved Elena.

He would gently sniff at her, nuzzle her neck to endless giggles, and as she got older…their bond became even closer.

He would march after her as we marched around our couch to John Philip Soussa marches – clanging our cymbals and tooting our horns.

And when she decided it was time to run the halls at Pappy’s house, you’d hear her say “Hershey – Hershey”  motioning him to follow her and then giggling again as he’d nuzzle her neck.

And then there was the time he followed her into the kitchen and she decided it was time to go back into the living room.  She turned around to him, held her hand up in front of him and started beeping…backing him into the living room.

She dressed him up with necklaces.  She ate her treats in front of him waving him away as he tried to sneak a bite and would say “Nawt fo yewwwww!”

Nicole came along a year ago and had some fun Hershey experiences too, from nuzzles on the neck…to turning her face to him for open mouth kisses (ewwww)…to breaking into the giggles when he stood up from laying on the deck beside her.  Why?  Because he had laid on a chalk drawing and had chalk all over his side.

And as for me…

I will miss my dear, dear friend who gave me such love and tenderness this winter as I recovered.  He would lay on the other end of the couch.  He would sneak his head up to me for a pet.  He would lay his head on my computer while I blogged to say “Enough already – it’s my turn!”.  He would shake not just his tail, but his whole body with excitement when he saw me get up in the morning.  And he would walk Tim and I to bed at night to make sure we were all tucked in, then come back out to his bed or his chair (yes he had his own overstuffed chair) and tuck himself in.

He truly was my baby boy.

We all giggled the other night as Tim started listing off Hershey’s many names he’s had over the years…Baby Boy, Little Old Man, Mr. Greybeard, and sometimes Damn Dog.

Hershey, our little old man.

One thing never changed over all these 13 years…he was the most gentle, sweet dog I’ve ever seen.  Never did he growl, never did he try to bite anyone.

We used to laugh, in fact, at how our house was never safe from intruders because Hershey would just shake with excitement and kiss a burglar to death if one actually came in.  You could just hear him thinking “Whooohooo – company!!!”

We will miss you Sweet Little Old Man.

But we loved you with our whole hearts and you loved us with yours.

Be at peace, healthy and happy again…and give loves to all the Grandma’s and Grandpa’s in Heaven for us, will you?  We know they’ve welcomed you with open arms.

You will be forever in our hearts…

With love,

Patty O (Momma)