Happy Birthday to Adler

On Friday we celebrated what would have been Adler's 11th birthday. Hailey woke up practically singing Happy Birthday to Adler (as we had been talking about it for awhile) and I couldn't wait to put those candles in something and celebrate our Addie girl. We know she'll forever be 10 but she was so close to making it to 11 that I am just going to say she was 11.

She's home with us now. We had her cremated privately through a wonderful pet service that gave us a paw print and beautifully packaged her ashes for us. It was all done so well telling us who took special care of our girl during this final stage that that certainly provided some comfort. I had to drive back to the animal hospital to pick up her ashes. I waited a few days until Tom could go with me but I didn't want to leave her there for long. She belonged with us, in our home. Her home. Peyton wanted to go in with me and she wanted to know everything about that day. Where I dropped Adler off and where we said our final goodbyes to her inside. She wanted to see the ashes too, but I told her that her dad will have to show her those. I don't think I can bear to look inside and see my beautiful girl as ashes.

I searched online for awhile to find just the right urn for Adler's final resting place and ended up ordering a beautiful handmade porcelain glazed urn where we will transfer her ashes. Her name is on the back and a beautiful quote adorns the front:

"What we have enjoyed we can never lose.

All that we loved deeply becomes a part of us."

Her final resting place will be in our home amongst all of her family who loved her so much. Who still love her so much. 

We see her everywhere still and that definitely provides an immense amount of comfort. In fact, on our way to our annual tree cutting on Saturday, we saw a Bernese Mountain Dog. How appropriate we thought that as we pulled out of our town, that we see a Berner on our first trip to the tree farm without her. She was with us, we felt it.  Then

the store at the tree farm had the prettiest little ornament/frame that simply said "forever in our hearts." That's exactly how I signed our holiday cards - with Adler forever in our hearts. So I bought it and was sharing with the cashier (one of the owners we have seen for years), that this was one of the first years that our dog wasn't with us to cut down our tree as she had passed away last month. She asked me what kind of dog I had and then this woman standing next to me in line says, you had a Bernese Mountain Dog?! I said yes, we did and she replied so did they. But theirs had passed at age 3. Age 3! How would I have been able to handle Adler dying at age 3?! I would have such fewer memories, less pictures for sure and I would have felt like she got robbed of her life with us. But she didn't. She had a great life - a long life for a Bernese Mountain Dog. As time passes and I hear stories like this woman's and read more on my Berner List Serv, I know that Adler living to almost 11 was a great feat. We were lucky to have her that long and that makes me happy. Happy for the 3,984 days we did have together. That's a lot of days. A lot of memories. And a lot of love between us. That makes me smile...finally.