My Beloved Bunners

I remember the day we got Huckleberry. I was 12....it was a warm June day....the house had a white porch on it....

Huckleberry was a year old. And she was a great dog. She slept with me in my twin bed for those first few nights. She really was an incredible dog.

Over the years things changed, and she always weathered the change. Even after moving out of my Dad's house, the minute I came in the door she came to see me. Or when Brad moved to California...even when he came home she came to see him. She really loved us.

In the summers of yearly Oregon camping trips, our Papawishes started calling her Hucklebunny...then Honeybunny...and eventually Bunny just stuck. So we had this big, old Golden Retreiver we called Bunny. I remember the cable guy coming to my parent's house when I was in high school. Bunny came running through and I said "Bunny..go outside." The cable guy looked up at me and said 'you do know that's a dog, right?'...all in good fun of course.

When Bunny was younger, I used to grab her leash and say "ice cream" and she would go run to the door. I would let her sit in the front seat of my little Geo Storm and take her to Dairy Queen...where I would order 1 medium cone...for Bunny of course. She LOVED this.

I used to take her in my little car to pick up the boys from school. They would get so mad at me because I always let Bunny have the front seat...while they had to sit in the back.

Bunny loved Smarties. I remember putting them up on a shelf in this apple ceramic jar my mom had. When she knew they were there she would sit and stare at that jar...of course I always gave her Smarties.

As Hallie learned to talk she called her HallieBerry...we always laughed at that one. And when the bear was loose in Puyallup, Hallie got startled by Bunny and started crying "there's a big white bear at the window"...but really...Bunners was just a big teddy bear.

In her old age of course she developed some blindness, deafness (which I really think was selective hehe), and she got this water growth on her chest. The vet said she was too old to have the growth removed. Eventually, they said, it would grow large enough it would bother her. She's had this growth for a long time now. And yesterday, it started bothering her. It must have grown to a nerve. I went to see her one last time last night. She could hardly stand up, she was so uncomfortable, and obviously in pain. Her arm she couldn't lift...I cried my eyes out...and have cried on and off since.

Dad fed her a hamburger for dinner...and an ice cream cone. Shelley got out some Smarties and I fed her favorite candies to her. She was happy...even if only for a minute.

Dad is taking her in this morning to have her put down. It's killing me...Bunners would have been 16 in June. I know she lived a long life...but she's been around over half of mine. That dog will always live in my heart...she's amazing.


Rest in Peace Bunners....we all love you...you will be missed terribly.

Bunny.....June 12, 1993 to April 30th, 2009.