Our Harley

Sunday morning while we were still camping in Carlsbad, my mom called to say Harley hadn't gotten up to go out yet and it was already 9 am.  I had her put me on speaker and walk out the back door, so I could call him and hope that my voice would coax him out.  But no, he wouldn't budge.  Then Mom noticed he'd gone potty on the floor and we knew something was very wrong.  Garret, the kids and I packed up camp as quick as we could and rushed home.  When we walked out to see Harley, I knew it was time for us to say goodbye to him and put him down.  It was so hard and when I said this, Tatum knew what that meant and started crying.  Of course, it was a Sunday so I couldn't get anyone to come to the house and help us, so we got him on this tarp and into the back of the van.  We drove him down to the pet hospital and they crew there rushed a rolling table out to take him back and put an iv in his arm.  They rolled him into this room where we had time with him, said our goodbyes, hugged and kissed him over and over, and told him what a good boy he was.  It was truly the hardest day for all of us and we'll never forget out sweet Harley bear.  I've printed out tons of pictures from his 12 1/2 years that we'll put together in the scrapbook.  We also put together a shadow box that we'll hang on the wall and look at all the time.  We miss our baby bear but he's feeling a lot better now and we know he's playing with all his friends at the rainbow bridge.

I think the one who took it the hardest was Cali.  Harley and Cali would lay together all day, every day.  Wherever he was, she would curl up next to him and lick his fur and rub on him.  He was only 1 1/2 when we brought her home and she thought he was her new daddy. Cali was pretty depressed the first few days, I'd find her laying on his blankie.  Cali and I both would lay on the carpet in my bedroom where Harley would spend a lot of time, just because we could smell him there.  Oh, the first week was pretty rough.