It’s a sad day in our home. We lost our most senior dog, Timber, who was well over 18. Several days ago she must have had a stroke. Suddenly, she was no longer able to use her hind legs, so we said goodbye to her this morning after making her as comfortable as we could in her remaining hours.

Some of you may recall that she survived cancer over six years ago, at which point we thought we’d just have a matter of weeks or months of palliative care, but the surgery to remove the huge tumor from her leg was a success. Indeed, she thrived right up until very recently.

We’re happy we were able to give her a much longer life than she would have had when my sister’s in-laws were stricken with their own immense health issues about seven years ago. There had been talk among those extended family members of “taking her to the pound,” to which I said, “Hell no…not on my watch.” I had known her from various holiday gatherings since she was just a puppy. We are so grateful to have so many pictures and videos of her from many vacations and trips to beaches and parks these past seven years.

In hindsight, this video of her tongue acting like this at the beginning of September might have been a sign of her having a stroke, cute as it is: