A Life Well Lived
This evening, we said goodbye to our buddy, Gordon. Gordon was our "first child", a four-legged one, but one who weighs about 2x more than our daughters combined. Gordon died between Sunday night and Monday morning of last week (July 6-7) while we were on vacation. Gordon's body was brought out of our house before we could see him, and so today was the first day we saw him since we left for Canada. It was a difficult time for us -- struggling between wanting to hold on to our last memory of Gordon, saying "goodbye... be a good boy.. don't make a mess" as we left the house. But now, our last memory of Gordon is of peace.
We held a ceremony this evening for Gordon, and thankfully, most of the family was there. We said goodbye, we love you, and thank you to our loyal companion.
Joli said, "God, please remember to feed Gordon 2 cups of food every day."
Gavin, who is usually terrified of Gordon, said, "Tita Liza, Gordon looks beautiful."
Jada said, "Gordon died. He's never coming back. He's going to go into a box."
Our family then had some quiet time at the end to thank Gordon for protecting us all these years and for loving us. We asked Gordon to watch over us while he's up in Heaven.
Grace had some quiet time with Gordon, too. We know she felt a strong connection to him, and so we wanted her to have some time with him.
After we all said our Goodbyes, we watched as they placed Gordon into the crematory. Approximately 2 hours later, Jorge was able to bring our friend home.
On living.....
This is the eve before Joli's 5th birthday. We spent this evening talking about when she was born, and some of our favorite highlights of her years. We shared some of our favorite memories of her growing up. It's hard to believe she'll be 5 years old....
Joli at 3 weeks old -- her first "Tigger photo" with our buddy, Gordon.
Joli's 1st birthday
Joli's 2nd birthday
The eve of Joli's 3rd birthday
The eve of Joli's 4th birthday
The eve of Joli's 5th birthday
Happy Birthday, Joli! We love you!!
3 comments:
We were writing our blogs at the same time!
Here's mine:
http://gracetalusan.blogspot.com/2008/07/goodbye-gordon-love-you.html
Happy Birthday Beauty!
Hey Talusan Vegas,
We've been thinking about you all so much the past few days. We've been sad about Gordon, and have had fun telling our kids stories of escapades and trail walks with Rufus. But after we got your email and read your blog the other night, we've also been thinking about Joli and the BIG 5! I tried to explain to James today about how he and Joli are connected by their experiences, and their MIGHTINESS, and how cool it is to see them both be the BIG 5. He was mostly wowed to learn about her new eye. (He wondered why he didn't get a new kidney?) So HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Joli, tomorrow. Have a fun day and know we're thinking about you here in PA.
Love, the Wenner Bradley
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