I had to put my beloved 12-yr-old dog down this morning after a short struggle with lymphoma. She was such a good and sweet dog -- usually, at least. I'd had her since I was only 20, and I feel like the best part of me just died. She was very clever and could escape from almost anything, and there's lots of funny stories to go along with that, but I'm crying too much right now to tell them. I miss her so much already. I know it was her time, but she didn't deserve the pain she experienced in her life, especially at the end. When the vet injected her, the look of peace in her eyes was almost too much to bear. I told her I loved her and that she was a good dog, the best dog. Then I told her to go to sleep, and her heart stopped.

Aw, Molly. You were my constant companion as I became an adult. You were the best thing that could have happened to me when I found you, and you brought me to the best things in my life. I wish I could have been a better owner for you; you deserved better than you got. I loved you so much. I miss you terribly.

Here's my sweet dog at 7 months with her puppies and first bad haircut.


Here she is in summer of that year, running on the beach:


Here she is with me at Lake Jordan, NC, in the fall of 1997:


Here she is with the girl who is now my wife (she took an instant shine to Em, which helped bring us together) at Lake Jordan on the same day:


And here we are up in a tree that day:

She was very lively then, bounding through the undergrowth and diving into the water without a care in the world.

Here she is leaping through a field on an excursion to East Carolina in the summer of 1998:


Here she is showing affection to my best girl on the same trip:


Here she is with my best girl in the mountains of NC in the fall of 1998. One of my wife's co-workers used to think that Molly was a monkey from this picture.


Here she is at Guadalupe River State Park in TX. Thanksgiving 2001. Look how happy she is!


Here's me & her at the Hill Country State Natural Area, TX, in April of 2002.


Here she is with my wife by a little creek on that same trip. What a pretty couple!


Here she is on her back for some belly-lovin' at my 30th birthday party in May 2002:


This is two weeks later, shorn for summer, with my wife.


Shorn for summer in our backyard later that day. Everybody always thought she was a puppy with this haircut. She's 10 yrs old in this picture.


This is her in her crate with the cat in Spring of 2003.


And, finally, here she is in a field of beautiful Texas flowers, looking like I always want to remember her, in Spring 2003. I didn't include any recent pictures because she started declining in Summer of 2003, and I don't want to remember her in decline. I'm sorry to ramble. I loved her so much, and she's gone. She was one of a kind. RIP, sweet Molly.