It is difficult to compose myself long enough to write this tribute to Abbie Girl. If anyone ever needed a tribute, she would be the one! Abbie passed away on Monday around 5pm. She had just turned 15 years old which is so fortunate for a Retriever. However, if you knew Abbie...that was nothing for her. I thought, and hoped, she would live forever. I spent so much time with her she was a part of me. She had personality. She was smart as a whip! She could carry a cookie on her nose and not even flinch. She would carry a piece of mail in her mouth from the mailbox like it was her job and she worked for the postal service. We became connected. All of the stories about Abbie tell you how smart she was. She would lay on the bed before her back legs got bad. If I heard a noise, she heard the noise at exactly the same time. We would both lift our heads at the same time and look at each other as if to say 'Did you hear that?'. She loved her beautiful home and grounds. She loved to just take leisurely walks outside and see if she could identify what had just run through the bushes. She loved it when I took her for walks and she never pulled on her lead. She walked with authority but not with urgency. There is so much I could say about her because I feel I really understood her. I knew what she was thinking and she knew what I was thinking. She even knew what I was about to do. If she knew I was going to the kitchen, she followed. If I moved in the same direction but just slipped into the bathroom, somehow she knew.
There is one word for Abbie.......and that word is 'Regal'. She was just Regal.
I have lost my two best friends in seven weeks. Though I loved my human best friend, I think Abbie's loss is harder. I don't understand that......but I know it.
