Remembering Sophie {The. Best. Dog. Ever}

It is with a heavy heart that I am writing this post. Our beloved Sophie, the golden retriever, had been sick most of August. She wasn't eating and continually vomiting. By the time we figured out something was wrong we took her to the vet. Her labs were out of whack and had lost 20 lbs. After a week of still not getting better, we took her to another vet (this is a whole other story). The new vet was amazing and immediately did an xray and ultrasound only to discover advanced stage liver cancer! To say we were devastated when those results were given is an understatement. Nick said even the vet had tears delivering the news. We were given a week to say goodbye. The vet wanted us to say goodbye that same day. But we still had to tell our kids the horrible news. Dear Lord, that was awful in and of itself. Meredith and Sophie are two peas in a pod. Mere was 4 when we got her. I will never be able to get that out of my head seeing my poor daughter so upset saying "no mommy" "you're lying". We unfortunetly didn't get the full week with Soph but just a day. We knew she was miserable. Ya'll I watched my father die. I am sure you can imagine how terrible that was. I have to say this ranks right up there. (and if you know me that is saying a lot. I was one of those people who could never understand how people got so upset after losing a pet. That was until we got our Sophie Girl. Now I understand.) I have a wonderful set of coworkers who let me leave work early to spend the last few hours with Sophie loving on her. They gave me a cute basket of flowers and the sweetest cards. A friend sent me a picture frame with a heartfelt card. My bestie stayed with the kids and took them for ice cream while Nick and I took her to the vet for the last time. We could not have gotten through this without our friends and family. There were so many messages from friends and we read each and every one. But let's forget the last week and all that we went through and let's remember the happy times with our sweet Sophie.

Five years ago we decided we wanted a golden retriever. I searched and searched for breeders and we just weren't ready to drop a boat load of money on a dog. We kept searching the animal shelters. Then one of our friends posted on Facebook that her parents needed to find a new home for their golden! We immediately sent our friend a message and within a few days Sophie was ours. We were in love with our girl from the first second. She was already house broken and wonderful with the kids. We could not have found a better dog for our family. Sophie loved going to Augusta with us on our weekend trips and camping with us. Sophie loved her tennis balls and you could find her asleep in Nick's recliner still with the tennis ball in her mouth. She loved for us to throw the ball too and wouldn't leave you alone. She was the best cuddle bug and always slept in our bed. On nights nick worked she kept his spot warm. She greeted us each day when we got home from work with slobbery kisses. My whole family loved Sophie. She would sleep with my mom when we would go to Augusta or if she stayed with us. Sophie literally was the best dog ever but will forever be in our hearts!!

Best. dog. ever

Sophie

a sweet note from my niece, Delaney