Well... so much for a Happy New Year.

My dog Bubbles passed away this New Year at around 6:30, she was 15 years old. She had been just fine the other day, wanting belly rubs, being cuddly, drinking and such. And then at around 5 she suddenly started to throw up. My mom had come into my room asking where the stomach flu medicine was for her, she had gotten stomach aches many times so I just thought she'd have her medicine and be fine in no time, as usual. Then, at around 7 in the morning I wake up to my dad barging into my room telling me that she had died. I was so confused and got up to go see what was going on. I walk into my mom's room to see her holding Bubbles while crying. I asked what had happened and she told me that after giving her the medicine she went to sleep thinking nothing much of it herself, until her and my dad woke up in the early morning to Bubbles silently crying. It was so silent that my mom thought she was just having a nightmare for a second. Of all the years that my dog had been sick, she had never once cried from the pain. So, my mom picked her up and asked if she was ok. Bubbles made a retching noise, so my mom put her down onto the floor, but she did not vomit. She laid there for a bit before crawling towards the edge of the bed to be picked up, not even able to stand. When my mom placed her on the bed, she comforted Bubbles while she breathed heavily as if she was panting. Once my mom was done petting her, she slumped over to my dad for him to also pet her... my parents weren't able to fall back asleep since she had kept them up since 5. So they just watched TV, my mom had noticed that Bubbles' breathing had become slow and calming, she commented to my dad that the medicine must be kicking and she must be feeling better. It wasn't until a couple of minutes more into the movie that my mom glanced over to Bubbles, only to find that she had stopped breathing and had died in her sleep.

For a while I had just stood there staring at nothing in particular and tried to let it process. But then in a second it all came crashing down on me... and it really hit me...

Bubbles... you were my best friend. I had known you since I was 5 years old and you were just a tiny little ball of fluff. You were there throughout all of my dark and happy moments. I will miss the way you'd hop around the yard like a deer, the way you happily greeted us at the door, how you would follow us every where in the house, how whenever we were in the living room watching TV you'd go over to your bowl carry your kibble in your cheeks and eat them with us. But most of all, I will miss waking up every morning to you scratching at my door wanting in or already laying under the covers beside my head.

I love you so very much, and I hope to one day see you again, my sweet baby girl.