Ode to Charlie

Our sweet Charlie, aka Sir Charles Benjamin III took his last breath this morning at 5:53. He hadn't shown any signs of being sick and even yesterday, acted as he always did. This morning when Brent was getting ready for work, he woke me up and told me to come watch Charlie. Charlie didn't want to move and he was outside on the deck. Brent wanted him to come in so he helped him up. That was the first indication that something was wrong. After about 10 minutes, Brent carried Charlie into the bedroom and laid him by my side of the bed. His breathing was very labored. Brent told me he was going to take him down to the emergency vet and I told him NO. I told him it was time for Charlie to go and I didn't want him lying on a cold vet's table. So, we sat with him and petted him and told him how much we love him. After about 45 minutes, our boy Charlie went to Heaven.

Charlie was born Sept 28th, 1998 and came to live with us in Nov of that year. I remember the night we went and picked him out. He immediately went for Brent and has been Brent's buddy ever since. When we brought him home, he got his first taste of people food; bean and bacon soup and ever since then, he has been the biggest beggar you could imagine. Every morning it was his ritual for me to give him a cookie biscuit so he could go out to go potty. He'd eat that, go down, come back up and sit at the door and stare at me until I came and brought him and Luke another one. He'd eat that and then by the time I was done with my breakfast, he'd be ready to come in for yet one more. Then he'd head downstairs with it and be happy for a while. Yes, three cookie biscuits for breakfast and that doesn't count the one(s) Brent would give him before he went to work. Surprisingly, Charlie was not that much overweight and Luke is not at all.

So, nearly 11 years old, Charlie has gone on to be with his friends Addy and Spooky. We will miss you dearly sweet Charlie. We love you!