I miss you every day

6 weeks ago I had to say good bye to my beloved dog, Madison. It was one of the hardest days of my life. I had been blessed to have her for over 16 years. I think about her and miss her every day.

February 1997: I wasn't married yet. Living in a rental home in Commerce Township. It was a Saturday morning. Todd and I went to the gym (back when I actually did things like that), than we went to the pet store for bird food. It was adopt-a-dog day. I walked in, looked at him and said "We're getting a dog." Both of us were big fans of Lab's so we headed over to a box full of lab puppies. In the corner of that box was a little black fur ball. She was only 6 weeks old. I looked at her and knew she was the one. We were told that she was a border collie and would grow to be about 35-45 pounds. Perfect. Neither of us knew a thing about that breed of dog, but we were in love and she was going home with us.

After an extensive interview process, in which we had to lie and say we were already married, we took our new baby home. We soon discovered that this particular breed of dog is a very busy breed. She was a horrible puppy. Got into everything, chewed everything, but I loved her with all my heart. I think I made more phone calls to the vet that first year than I did to the pediatrician with all 3 kids combined! She gave me a run for my money, but I wouldn't have given her up for the world. And after that first year she settled down and turned into the best dog a person could ask for.

She grew quickly and passed that estimated weight of 35-45 pounds. When she was done growing she was close to 100 pounds. It didn't matter, big dogs were what we were used to.

We discovered that she was a mix of border collie and regular collie. The vet said more regular than border. She was solid black except for a small patch of white on her chest that you could only see if you moved the other hair around it.

She was with me when I got married, bought my first house, had all 3 of my kids and so many other life-changing events. She was always happy to see me, always thankful for whatever I gave her to eat and was always by my side. My mornings started with greeting her and my days ended with saying good night to her.

There is a huge void in my life now. I still look for her, I swore I heard her for weeks after, I smell her and I just can't believe she is gone. I always referred to her as my first child and I will miss her every day of my life.