Jessi

Jessi has been the only animal that has lasted our entire marriage. Greg bought her for me a few months after we married. We instantly fell in love with her. She has this great personality where she is just happy all the time. One of our favorite games with her is the pouncing game. I swear she is part cat. You crouch down in front of her and lock eyes with her then she slowly moves toward you like a wild animal on the prowl. She doesn't blink or look anywhere else but at you. Then you pounce and she runs around the house like crazy. It is hilarious.

She has always been really great with the kids. When Haley was about 6 months old she grabbed Jessi's face and ripped a chunk of hair straight out. Jessi just sat there and wagged her tail. We were amazed. Haley has always loved Jessi and within the last year or two has really taken care of her. She is in charge of putting her out to use the restroom. Jessi uses the "bathroom" on command. So great.

Jessi has always slept on our bed. She sleeps on my feet. It is annoying at times. She often snores as loud as Greg. That's a lot of fun. We tried to get her to sleep in Haley's room but she would not have it. She would scratch at the door until we brought her back into our room.

It's funny that I spoke of her in the present tense throughout this blog. Our beloved Jessi died last week. She had been acting differently the last year. A microburst (kind of a mini tornado) moved through our neighborhood in AZ and lightning struck our tree. This happened while Jessi was outside and she has never been the same since. Whenever we get dressed to go anywhere she begins to shake violently out of fear. Sometimes it would get so bad that she would go into something that looked like convulsions. It was so sad to watch. She wouldn't eat or drink anything while we were gone. She was almost blind and began running into everything. She even ran away and we didn't find her for two days. We didn't want her to suffer any longer so we decided it was time to have her euthanized. We were able to do it at home when Haley was in bed asleep. She passed away peacefully with Greg beside her. I was a mess and couldn't handle it. The next day Haley went to let Jessi out and couldn't find her. Breaking the news to her was very hard. We buried her in our back yard. Haley made a beautiful tribute to her with Jessi's favorite toys, Haley's heart keychain, and a cross. We sat there for over an hour. I tried to get her to leave but she didn't want to leave Jessi alone. It was really Haley's first experience with death. I would prefer that it be her last but I know that won't be the case.

Haley found Jessi's collar yesterday. She handled it really well. I think she is going to be fine. We will make sure to keep Jessi's memory alive through pictures and stories. We are done with pets for a long time. We really have more than enough on our plate. We live in a very dog friendly neighborhood so we can get our fix. There is even a dog that looks just like Jessi.

We will miss Jessi terribly but we know we gave her a great life during her time with us. She blessed our lives and we will never be the same because of her.