Good-bye Gus Gus

Yesterday was such a different day for Kevin and I, first of all I usually don't see him until the end of the day, round about 5 or 6 pm, but just before 11 am, the door opened ( which by the way, scared the heck out of me, cause I thought I had forgotten to lock the door after I let Gus out to go potty and someone was just walking right in) but thankfully it was Kevin and not some wierdo. I was shocked that he was home so early, but due to the really rainy week it had slowed business to a halt. He only worked on 1 windshield the whole day and then was told to go home. So, being that I had a helper around I decided we had best get to ridding through our extra stuff before we start packing up in a few weeks for the big move ( hopefully our last for quite some time) and we were very productive. We gathered so much for the yard sale and for donations to our local thrift store, it was a great use of an early out day.

The night before I had re-listed Gus in the free to good home section on the online classifieds and we were anxious to see if there would be any nibbles, as the first ad only produced one interested party and upon talking to her we didn't get the vibe that, that would be his new home. Our second attempt did however turn up a very nice young man, who excitedly e-mailed us and then called us so he could set up a meet and greet with Gus. Just after talking to him on the phone Kevin agreed that he sounded like a good person and he got a good vibe from him, so I started to gather up his stuff, because if it was a good fit we wanted to pass along whatever we had for him. And who was crying while doing so? Yep, it was me as I picked up his nail clippers, and tennis balls and grooming supplies I cried, and then I cried some more. It's okay if I blame this on pregnancy hormones too right? I guess you really never know how much someone means to you, until they have to move on. For three long years we had Gus as part of our everyday routine, feeding, going outside to potty, he was on plate licking duty, and his tags always jingled as he flapped his ears. It was a hard reality to think that this pooch, who had taken the place of our child for so many years was no longer going to be around. I'll admit it, even now tears are streaming down my face as I think about that big yellow dog. Even when he'd do crazy things, like eat non-food items ( receipts, cell phone cord, lamp cord) it didn't affect the way I felt about him. I was still one of his people and he was still our loving pal. I guess that may be one way I know I am ready for parenthood. It's all unconditional, there has not been a day in the last 3 years that I didn't put on a pair of polyester pants only to find them covered in blonde hair in a matter of seconds, or have an instant vaccum cleaner when dropping food on the floor, or get a lick on the cheek when we asked him if we wanted to go for a ride. Our Gus was one of a kind and I know he was meant for us, especially Kevin for even just a short amount of time. I guess we both got to test out our parenting roles a little bit with our first ever kiddo and I couldn't be happier with the job we did. But it didn't make saying goodbye any easier, even though I know and Kevin know's that this is the best thing for him.

So anyway, we met Gus' young man at a local PetSmart and Gus took right to the guy. He's a young feller, only 24, living at home, still single and still doing fun things like camping in the mountains, hiking, and general fun stuff that we old 30 year olds don't do as much of anymore. Gus will be the 2nd family lab ( their last one lived to 14 and they've wanted to find another since because their female dog is lonely, don't worry she's fixed), and is joining another dog a female german shepherd in the family. So he'll have another dog friend, a young master, and best of all a completely fenced back yard where he can be off his cable. We knew we had the found the right new master for him as Gus made the transition so smoothly, as the new guy walked him around the store on the leash and upon making the decision that we'd like him to have Gus he hopped right into the new masters car, without hesitation. Kevin got just a little teary as we walked away but it was me that more of the boo-hoo baby. We watched him drive away, with Gus' snoot poked out the window sniffing and snuffing the air and that was it.

The rest of the day we stayed busy thinning out our stuff and taking it either to the thrift store, or to the storage unit for the yard sale. We visited with family and stayed out rather late. We were both kind of avoiding the quiet empty apartment, but eventually we made our way home and off to bed. In the corner of the master, there wasn't a dog bed or a dog just an empty spot where it used to sit and no one greeted us excitedly as we returned home, it was just us again. Our apartment has been very quiet since. You forget how much background noise a dog can make. We even awoke to the quiet. Kevin teased that Gus was his furry alarm clock, since we are in a windowless room, the sun never could wake him up, but Gus always did. I teased saying, well we'd better not get used to the quiet cause soon enough we'll be hearing a different sound, the cries of a hungry, or wet or lonesome baby. And really, in the end isn't that what we've always wanted? I'll be okay, we'll always have the funny memories and that Christmas tree ornament to commemorate the Gus chapters in life. Now I guess it's time to start writing the baby chapters, but what a bittersweet feeling.