Today was a hard day in the Francl household. We said goodbye to a dear member of the family. I don't really know a better way to honor the life and passage of one of "man's best friends" other than to write a eulogy of sorts. So here we go.
Pictured below is Brooklyn Bean Francl. She came to our home in the fall of 2007 at about the age of 7. She passed away today, November 17, 2012 at about 9:30am. We had to put her down because she was loosing control of her bodily functions and her quality of life was quickly deteriorating.
**Side note: this post is for me - it's for future me who will want to remember these things about Brook, so if you don't want to read about my dog, stop reading now. It won't hurt my feelings. I may do a more general post about losing a pet later, but right now, I just need to remember for me. And grieve. So let the remembering begin...**
We adopted Brook from a colleague of mine whose father (Brook's previous owner) could no longer care for her because he was battling Alzheimer's disease. Her previous owner had adopted her from a shelter in 2004 and had named her "Baby Doll." Chase, not able to bear the thought of standing at the door and shouting "Baby Doll! Baby Doll!" renamed her Brook.
On the ride from her previous owner's home to ours, Brook and Fraz were sitting on my lap and we went over a bump. This caused the two of them to bump into each other. To which Fraz turned, gave Brook a disdainful look up and down, and then scooted an inch further away. It was a rough start, but it turned out ok. She spent her first night at our house hiding out in the bedroom, but it didn't take her much longer than that to adjust.
The next three pictures are Brook doing her very favorite thing to do in life: eating. Once while we were out of the house, this girl ate 2 1/2 of my danishes - that's equivalent to about a pan of cinnamon rolls! She practically rolled to the door when we got home, she was so round! Of these, my favorite picture is actually the third. I think you'll see why when you get there...
Eating from her dog bowl.
Super excited to get the treats out of her Christmas stocking.
Making sure to get every last crumb of dog food from the bag! (And she got stuck too - when she backed away, the bag came with her. It was so funny!)
Like many indoor pets, Brook spent much of her time sleeping. It was always amazing to me the positions I would find her in:
She did this often -hung her head outside her bed. I couldn't see how it could be comfy at all!
One of the rare moments of affection between Fraz and Brook.
When we lived in Vienna, we lived on the 4th floor of our apartment building, which meant we walked 4 flights of stairs 4 times a day with 2 dogs to take them out. It also meant our dogs had a great view of our courtyard. I think Brook liked sitting out there so much because she was short, so it made her feel tall to be 4 stories up. When I'd study on the balcony, I always had a study partner.
We got Frazier, our blond cocker spaniel when we got married, and we got Brook, the black one, about 2 years after that. Since we waited a while to have kids, the dogs became my kids, and especially when we lived in the DC area I spend a LOT of time with them. We'd walk to the dog park, meet other dogs and their owners, wander around the neighborhood, and, yes, I even talked to the dogs quite a bit. I needed to have someone or something to care for, and they filled that need. I've said many times of the dogs that their purpose has been to keep me sane, and they did (at least for the most part!).
Above you can see that we all had on our coats (the dogs had coats too), as we were preparing to head out into the 2 feet of snow we got in a crazy storm in DC! The snow was way over the dogs' heads, and they either had to balance carefully on top of it to go to the bathroom, or use the little walkway that was scooped for them to go. The last of the snow that fell in February melted that July. It was nuts.
We enjoy our pets and had lots of fun with Brook. Below, you can see that Brook has some strange looking leg-warmer-like things on her legs. Chase's mom sent them to us and we had no idea what they were. The only thing we could figure out was that they were Richard-Simmons-esque leg warmers for the dogs. Turned out they were elastic things to put on the outside of your glass so it wouldn't sweat. Who knew?
Brook was mostly a mellow dog. Because of all she'd seen in her life, I think she just didn't get too excited about anything. She was a tough old bird who didn't fuss about going to the vet, didn't flinch when prodded or poked, and didn't get too worked up about change. But sometimes, on rare occasions, she would play. From the day we got him, Frazier has played. I don't think Brook had ever known what to do with a ball until she saw Fraz playing. After months of watching him, she finally stole the ball from him one day when we were playing. And it was established: Brook was the alpha dog.
You wouldn't think it to watch the two of them - Frazier is rambunctious, with lots of energy, and he's bigger than Brook was. But what Brook wanted, Brook got. She didn't want much in life - her food, her spot on the couch, her bed, his toy when she felt like it. And she got those things. A tiny growl from deep in her throat (the only time I ever heard her growl), and Fraz would immediately surrender.
Excitedly jumping while playing with Chase.
I'd forgotten she even played tug of war sometimes!
Brook was a cultured dog, and well traveled. Because she was first adopted from a shelter, we have no idea where she spend the first few years of her life. The shelter was in Ohio and from there she lived with a gentleman in Michigan for 3 years. Then she came to us in Michigan, and we took her home with us to Nebraska on holidays. She also took the trip with us when we moved out to DC and back to Nebraska, so this girl has seen much of the US from the window of a car.
"Helping" me pack my bag... and making sure not to be left behind.
In her kennel at the airport when we flew them from DC to Nebraska and back for Christmas.
That's the Shenandoah Valley behind us where we stopped on a trip from DC to Liberty University.
The picture below is a very memorable picture. Not only does it show the dogs and me with the Washington Monument behind us, but this picture is the reason I didn't lose my camera. One night we had a friend staying with us in DC, so we took him to do our favorite thing: tour the monuments at night. (Really, if you're visiting DC, this is a MUST!) We took the dogs with us for the 2 mile hike, and the night was perfect for it. Immediately after taking the picture you see below, I stopped at a bench just outside of the WWII memorial to give the dogs a drink of water. They drank and we continued on our way toward Lincoln. Unbeknownst to me, my camera stayed on the bench. It was just before the 4th of July, because they were setting up all kinds of fencing to handle the crowds around the reflecting pools. We stopped at the bathrooms and the Vietnam Memorial and were just about to Lincoln when a pickup came driving along the reflecting pool (it had something to do with the fencing), and a guy leaned out and said, "Hey lady, is this your camera?" I didn't even know I'd lost my camera, but because the picture below was the last one taken on my camera, the guy knew that it was mine! It was a really neat moment of feeling the Lord winking down at me. The camera I nearly lost is still the one I use today.
I don't believe in fate or destiny, but I do believe in God. And I believe that God has a purpose for everything that happens. We may not be able to understand it, but that doesn't mean He isn't working. Over the course of the day, I've thought a lot about our little Brooklyn Bean and her purpose. I don't know if pets go to Heaven or not, but I do know that Brook served her purpose with us well. I can't name all of her purposes, but I can name a couple.
I have the feeling that part of her role in our family was to carry affliction and in some way show how to do it well. And boy did she ever do that. Her afflictions included thyroid issues that required pills 2x daily (for all of the years we had her), rotten teeth that had to be pulled, toe cancer (and consequently a toe removal), knee surgery, chronic ear infections (which we called "blueberry ear), cataracts in her eyes, hearing loss, loss of bladder control, arthritis... You name it, she probably had it... and we probably paid for it at the vet! But she carried all of these things with a pleasant, cheerful demeanor, and stood up under the treatments like a little champ. In all seriousness, I think she may be the most expensive pet we ever own, and we got her for free!
Her main purpose, and perhaps any dog's primary purpose, was companionship, and that she fulfilled very well. She may not have been able to go on runs with me, but she was the one who would trudge with me into newborn Lily's room for her midnight and early morning feedings. Brook was the one who would move around the house with me from room to room as I did house work. She "helped" me give Lily a bath every night by sitting in the bathroom (often trying to lay on Lil's towel) with us. She might have had the habit of being in the most inconvenient place possible, but that meant that she was always there.
I took the picture below in the few moments before we left Virginia for good to move back to Nebraska. The moving truck was loaded to the hilt, the car was packed out, their beds were in the back seat waiting, and all that was left to do was gather up the dogs, drop off the keys, and start driving. I turned from the moving truck to our apartment and this is what I saw:
The dogs (Brook is on the right, kind of blending into the background) waiting patiently but also intently for us to take them with us. I love it. What faithful friends.
Perhaps dogs go to Heaven, and if they do, I very much look forward to seeing an old friend someday. Or perhaps dogs don't go to Heaven, and Brook fulfilled her purpose while here on earth. In either case, Brook now rests next to another dear old friend of mine, Ralphie, my faithful cat from all my years growing up.
Facing death is the crummy side of pet ownership - the side you don't think about when you're picking out that adorable pup or kitten. But it's part of it, and though it was very hard, I'm glad my old girl is no longer in pain.
May you rest in peace, dear Brook.
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