We love Sugar

We lost our dog Sugar on Monday morning, and we don't totally understand what happened. She got overheated on a walk, collapsed, and stopped breathing. Oh, my heart just aches over this four-legged companion. Why did I suggest she go for a walk? Why did this happen? Knowing full well that the Lord has all things under control, nothing is out of his hand.

We went through our pictures, trying to find the picture to remember her by. There are videos of David, then in a diaper, riding Sugar. Sugar just set real still, until David tried to pull her tail and then she went round and round with him, as is she knew he didn't know any better about tails.

The first week Sugar came to live with us Sydney accidentally dropped her and she spent the night sleeping on my belly, atop the little boy who would soon pull her tail. This dog was so much more than a dog, she ran thousands of miles with me, looking up as if to ask, "Are we done yet?" But she would plod on, bounding into the tide pools of the Puget Sound by the end of our run. She became apart of my mothering, "Okay, you play with Sugar while Mommy deals with your brother." Sugar would follow commands to follow one child at the beach while I went after the other. I was completely confident in her, much like the character Nana in Peter Pan, the dog governess. Then there are the countless nights she kept watch and knew I needed her right beside me to be the eyes and ears while mine went to sleep. She could play tether ball by herself at the park, and draw a crowd. She loved to catch bubbles with the kids. And her complete focus on any ball, stick, toy that was to be retrieved would have brought a chuckle to the hardest cat lover. My neighbors knew Sugar before they knew me, "Oh, your Sugar's owner, nice to meet you." Recently I found out that she knew just how to nose her way into my neighbors kitchen especially when bacon was on the menu.

How do we replace such a sweet friend? We don't. My kids don't understand that this dog was special and that it's hard to move on. David said, "We just go to the chocolate lab store and get one and bring it home. I want a dog Mom."

Yeah, I know buddy, just want her back too.