Bye Bob

Sunday night, April 9th, at 11:05 PM our beloved rescue dog, Bob, passed away at home on the floor in the bedroom, as my wife, Bonnie lay down next to him. He was born on December 26th, 2008 and came to us in October 2010 from a kill shelter in Georgia.

When we found him on the Internet, Bob had been hit by a car, and also had heartworm. We kept saying just get him to us in Bangor, and we'd take care of him. I remember driving down to Scarborough to get him after a football game in October 2010. I drove down and had a crate in the car. He never used it, and we returned it unused a few days later. The night I picked him up, I fed him some turkey in the Walmart parking lot and spoke to him. He sat in the front seat of the car on the way home and I rubbed him and spoke to him all the way home. The only time he looked up was when I stopped rubbing him. It was love at first sight.

When we arrived back in Bangor, he met Wishbone and the two became best friends instantly. Bonnie asked where he was going to sleep, and I said let's have him sleep in the bedroom, and that's where he slept for the rest of his life. Wishbone slept in there and Bob did too. When Wish passed on, and Henley came into our life Bob was willing to share everything, except the bedroom. Henley new that the bedroom was Bob's.

Bob loved the outdoors and the sun. He would spend hours and hours on the back deck. We had a dog door put in the back door, and Bob was a pro. He would be out there Spring, Summer and Fall.

When Bob came into our life, we were still feeling the loss of Katie, who had passed on 6 months earlier. Bob came in and slept where Katie slept. He acted and started to look like her. We used to joke that Katie sent Bob to us. It was as if Bob had always been part of our family.

Bob loved to sleep with his tongue sticking out a little. We always used to look over and see him sleeping and just the tip of his pink tongue sticking out. He had the best and cutest nose that was always wet. I fell in love with his nose on the Internet. It was a nose you just had to kiss. I used to love to kiss that wet nose. I would tell Bonnie it was dry, because she hated a wet nose, and she would kiss it, and it would always be wet.

Bob gave me a decal for Christmas one year that's still on my car. It reads "Who Rescued Who?" One of the best sayings I have read on the Internet was "Be the person your dog thinks you are!" I hope I was and will continue to be.

After we lost Katie and Wishbone, someone told me about the poem "The Rainbow Bridge". I believe it. As Bob passed away last night, I told him to go find Katie and Wishbone by the Rainbow Bridge and they would be waiting for him. I told him that I would see him again, and that I couldn't wait to see him, Wishbone and Katie again by the Rainbow Bridge. It will be such a large, joyous and happy reunion and I know that I'll be covered with dog kisses.

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.

When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor. Those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.

They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent. His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....

Author unknown...