Minnicks On Their Road To Ever After: Our Golden Boy

From the moment i hit the “New Draft” button i dreaded everything about this post. On the other hand, he deserves the best “Obituary” his mama could write.

Which may in fact be why I am dreading this post so bad. How do you sum up and give enough credit to the sweetest boy who ever entered your life? A post will never be good enough, the words simply don’t exist. The only thing more pure than the love we had for our sweet boy was unfortunately the love he had for us. We simply couldn’t match him if we tried.

Here goes nothing..

Wednesday our sweet, loyal, old soul who had been with us almost 10 years and would be turning 11 years old in December, passed away.

Can I just say he never once complained, never ever! This sounds quite morbid to say but I honestly feel like he “gave us” the easiest death possible which i know was to make it as easy as possible on us down to the last moment.

That was just him, he was literally put in our lives to make us happy, at least that is what he lived to do. He was our protector and he simply loved us harder than we ever knew possible EVERY SINGE DAY.

If he had continued to use the bathroom I honestly would have continued to just think he was “a little more tired lately” because other than the day before he passed, when I could only get him to use the bathroom once, he was for the most part his old self…

This video is something i will cherish forever to remind Lola of how much she loved and trusted Tucker. It was taken less than 24 hours before he passed away.

Tuckers last morning we knew something was up, he woke up crying but it was more of just an “uncomfortable cry” that lasted until he readjusted himself. Lou jumped out of bed to check on him and noticed his eyes were dilated and he was taking quick short breaths. I called the vet immediately and they said the soonest appointment was that afternoon but to “drop him off “that morning so they could monitor him until his time. We got him downstairs and i was ready to go! Alex and I then noticed that although he wasn’t walking hardly at all his eyes were better and his breathing was back to normal.

Alex mentioned not wanting him to sit in a kennel all day and suggested we just let him wait at home and be comfortable until we take him in. I had not even thought of that, I was ready to jump the gun and do whatever the vet suggested but then i realized that meant he would be in a kennel all day when he already doesn’t feel good.

Alex and I ran an errand (I oddly enough) went to get him a new comfy bed in hopes it would help with his hip when we got back from his appointment. As soon as we got home Milly was the only one barking at the door… obviously in the back of our head we had planned for the worst so my heart sank…. By the time we got the door open he was his usual self barking and racing to the door perfectly fine to greet us!

We were SO relieved! We pet him, did our squealing and then he ran past us out the front door to go to the bathroom. Almost instantly he started falling over himself in attempts to go to the bathroom. We decided we needed to take him right then, a little early, for his appointment at 3- I knew then it was bad. Alex helped him up several times and then carried him to his brand new bed where his took his last breath right there with us not 3 minutes later.

We never even made it to his vet appointment.

Alex said he was waiting for us to get home, he wanted to greet us at the door one more time as if nothing at all was wrong.

That was so him.

He NEVER wanted us to worry.

Tucker Jones, from the moment I decided i needed to break the rules and get a kitten at my first real “house” (that was of course NOT pet friendly), I saw you and I loved you!

I will never forget, you were in the first kennel on the right and i never even looked at another dog (or kitten for that matter)!

You were it TJ.

You were meant for me, you jumped fences, literally, you climbed over them time and time again. You were already potty trained and it took you months for us to hear your first bark. You slept with me from day one and i LOVED it!

I remember your pretty teeth, your hyperness, your smell and your gorgeous golden coat.

I remember walking into the house and your daddy (who was very sick at the time) was literally asleep on the floor of my bedroom (looking back now I see how weird that was lol). You walked right in an trampled right over him! I told him “I got us a new dog”. He repeatedly thought and said “Not uh, your baby sitting someone’s dog”.

I just laughed and said “nope he’s ours!”.

Originally your name was “Bronx”. After about a week I decided “that CAN NOT be your name”.

You were a sweet, gentle old soul and Bronx was way too rugged. We settled on Tucker.

I felt like it was much more of a southern gentleman type name especially with Jones added to it! ;)

So from that point on you were ours and we were yours.

We were so complete.

You have given us more fulfillment in our lives than we could have ever imagined. You were Milly’s big sister and sheltered her from the start. You catered to her and to me like the biggest gentleman who has ever waked this earth. From letting her eat first to always making sure I was on the side of the stairs with the handrail.

You have been with us through every milestone, moving 7 times, graduations, every birthday celebration, holidays, crazy late night parties in college, decorating the tree every year, our wedding day, family camping trips, our many car rides to and from Atlanta, trick or treating and complying with all your dads safety compliance training.

You loved Christmas, we used to joke that for you, every morning was like Christmas day! You were the most joyful dog and full of life, just happy to wake up every day!

You always loved the snow, you would get SO excited and spunky to go run and play in it and your feet would go flying through the air!!

When we moved into our current house we could not wait to get your approval…

You always loved going to your grama and grampas because you could run loose off the leash! You loved swimming too but we always worried about your hip and your going where you couldn’t reach, you loved it though so we held our breath and usually just cheered you on!

Let’s face it you love everything about your grama and grampa!

For ten years you have slept at the foot of our bed. You (and your dad) have been my protector from the day you both walked in my life. You made me secure, you gave me security from whatever crazy thing i dreamed up was bound to happen from watching crazy dateline shows and lifetime movies too much.

Alex and I have yet to manage looking at that worn out footboard with out just baling in to tears every night.

Alex and I were just discussing how very much he is missed this weekend and I told him how I would normally never say this out loud because it’s well, “bragging” way too much about myself but it’s the truth… Alex finished my sentence foe me after that disclaimer… “He really loved you, you were his everything, his sun and his moon”.

All I could do was cry. If you knew Tucker you knew it was the truth. He honest to God had a love for me that I will never be good enough for. He could be found from anywhere in the house just starring at me, if i was safe he was secure. He lived and breathed to love me and to love all of us.

I will never know what i did to deserve a love like that but I will never forget it and live the rest of my life hoping to love as hard as he did. When Lola came along he was a pure gentleman.

The very moment of them meeting baby Lola had been rehearsed and strategized in my head for years. What would they think, how would i make them feel included as opposed to something happening to them?

Tucker made his feelings very evident, his mom was sill his number one but if we didn’t get up fast enough to tend to the crying baby he would come barking at us to make sure we “fixed” the baby….

He was happy that she made us happy. We always struggled with worrying Lola would hurt Tuck because of his hip yet at the same time never wanted their to be a hesitancy for them to love on each other. So we had a cautious yet encouraging dance we played with their relationship. at the end of the day Tuck ended up being the only one in the entire world that came “before Lola”.

She would have to learn to cater to his needs we decided.I remember bringing her home from the hospital and for whatever reason, I was NEVER allowed to be alone with her. Tucker was ALWAYS with me, I wasn’t sure if he didn’t trust “the baby” or if jut wasn’t sure about the whole situation. Either way he followed us everywhere at all times!

In the end he was, thankfully, so patient with her and she loved him so very much! He was her big teddy bear and although he loved her, I was still his concern.

Thank you for being our everything Tucker Jones.

Forever could never be long enough with you, so thank you for giving us 10 years of your happy smiles, wet kisses, protective barks, hyper dances and unconditional love.