Farewell Tess...

A sad post this time.

For 15 years we have been blessed with the presence of our dog, Tess.
When we moved to Bendigo our three boys were all quite young, so we thought having a pet dog would be a great experience for them, and didn't it prove to be a great decision.

In that time she has been a big part of our lives, and rarely has a day gone by without someone calling out "Has anyone fed Tess yet?"

Each time we walk in from the carport and open the door, we can look across the room and see Tess outside the glass doors that lead out onto our deck. Without fail she would be there waiting for us, or come bolting up from somewhere else in the yard once she knew we were home.

Tess would love to come into the house and just roam around. We rarely needed to vacuum, as she would scoop up anything that had found its way to the floor.

Will and Tess. No matter what time of the day or night, Will would always be with Tess giving her a gentle pat, especially in her last few weeks.

From being a dog who would chase balls everywhere, poor old Tess had really started to slow down over the past few months, to the point where we would take her to the vet to see if 'it was time yet'.

We all knew that as she got older and more frail, the decision to put her to sleep would have to be taken so that she would not be suffering. In her last few weeks she could barely get up on the deck or get up again if she fell over. We knew the time had come, so a booking was made to take her to the vet, and I was the one left to take her on this final trip.

Once the booking was made, a huge cloud of sadness descended over the house as we all came to realise that in 24 hours she would no longer be with us.

So, after I finished school on the Friday I drove home to collect her, all the time with a huge lump in my throat. No-one really wanted to say goodbye to her, so it was straight into the car and off we went. At the vet I could hardly speak as I was getting emotional about what was to happen, and to the vet's credit they understood this, and made the whole experience comfortable, peaceful and supportive.

Tess has now been laid to rest under a big gum tree on our block, on the side where we will most likely build once we subdivide the block. It is already called 'The Tess Tree'.

Tess just about to make her exit from this world.