Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Linus

Yesterday at 11:09 am we said good-bye to our best friend Linus.

For us, dogs are family. We feed them, train them, spend countless hours with them, walk with them, curse them, hold them when they are in pain, be proud of them, cry for them, can't wait to get home to them and love them with all we have. In turn they give us more then we can understand - from them comes a connection to a basic existence and teachings to live in the moment, always. They are not thinking about yesterday or tomorrow. We have the opportunity to learn a lot from them if we are open to it. For them, we are everything they have and they show it in every action. The connection is not easily described by this language.

 Linus was a truly special soul, an old soul. We always joked of him being an old man in a fur suit. He was good when he needed to be, affectionate when he needed to be and excitable when he needed to be. He could pick up on our emotions in a very in tuned way and always seemed to have the right reaction. He was Erin's rock for the highs and lows of the last 13 1/2 years. He went on countless road trips, rock climbing days, sailing days and brightened our home every day. Everyone loved Linus. For the last 6 years I got to know him like a best friend too, he came with us on every adventure we did pretty much. 2 years ago, we took our time taking him up to Joffre lakes. Erin didn't know I'd ask her to marry me this trip but I knew Linus had to be there if she said yes, it wouldn't be the same if he wasn't. We always had a plan to have him bring in the rings for us but Osa will have to take his place for that now.



He was a really strong dog. Both physically and in his personality. You had the feeling like you met 'someone' when you first saw him, he wore everything on the outside.  Maybe that's why its so hard to say good-bye, he really left a mark on you, a huge impression. In the end, there was nothing too tragic about Linus dying, he was an old dog that lived a good long life surrounded by love and people that planned their lives around him, just like family does.

Off to the happy hunting grounds buddy.