Ode to Cody (if I actually wrote poetry)

On July 15, 2015, we lost a member of our family and a very good friend.

Cody, our golden retriever, joined our family when he was just a pup 13 years ago.

He's been just about as good as a dog could be. ALWAYS good with the kids, friendly to everyone, not obnoxiously high strung - especially in his later years, just needed a pet on the head from time to time and always happy to see you. I could not have asked for a better dog.

Over the past while, we knew he was starting to feel his age. He wasn't moving as quickly and it took more effort to get up. A couple of months ago, the poor thing was trying to get into the hay field and I wasn't quite sure if he was going to make it out of the empty ditch between the yard and the field. Not quite two months ago, we had started him on an anti-inflammatory that seemed to be helping him move a little easier.

The evening of the 14th, Courtney could tell that he wasn't feeling good. She sat with him and tried to comfort him. We tried to get him up to the shop, but he couldn't get up. Greg was working nights that week, so I told her we'd have to leave him there and see if he had moved in the morning. He had, but when Greg came home, he said that Cody didn't look like he was doing well and he'd put him in the shop.

Later that afternoon, Greg called me and said that he'd dropped Cody off at the vet because he really wasn't doing well. He had given the vet my phone number because Greg was going to have to leave for work before too long. It wasn't ten minutes before the vet called me with the news that Cody's kidneys were failing.

All these years, I had taken for granted that he would always be there. I knew he would eventually die at some point, but that was always in the future - even though he was 91 years old in human years.  I started to cry and asked the vet if I could call him back so that I could talk to Greg. I called Greg and we decided to meet at the vet's office so that we could make a decision as to what to do.

As soon as I got there, I could tell that this was where we'd have to say goodbye. He looked so sad, his poor eyes sunken from dehydration. When I got there and started talking to him, he tried to lift his head, but didn't really have the strength. From time to time, he'd try to turn his head towards me.

Greg arrived and we talked to the vet about what the options were, he said that we could pump him full of fluids for three days and he would feel better, but that in about two weeks he would crash again and we'd have to repeat the cycle all over. As much as it hurt, we knew that it was the right decision to put him down. It still makes me cry just typing this.

Poor Courtney was in Rupert with my sister, so there was no way for her to get to say goodbye. Insert the part where a distraught mother is considering whether or not facetime would be helpful or hurtful in saying goodbye . . . I ended up calling her and telling her what was happening, which made her very sad too.

Kade was on his way home from work and wanted to be able to say goodbye too. It is incredibly hard to watch your 17 year old son (who is practically a man) break down in tears having to say goodbye. He and I both got to spend some time with Cody and say our goodbyes . . . which is way harder than I had imagined.

It has caught me completely off guard as to how much I miss this pup and how hard this has been for me. I don't really consider myself an "animal person". Greg LOVES all animals and would adopt them all if he could, but losing Cody has been very hard for me. He has been such a fixture in our lives for so long that it's so strange that he's gone. It has been hard for me to go out to the shop (usually where he hung out) without returning to the house in tears.

He was an easy going dog, for the most part, who alerted us any time it looked like anyone might even be thinking about turning into our driveway. He was always ready to greet you with a wag of the tail and would mosey over for you to pet him on the head. He was not a rambunctious dog and he was good to tolerate Scout (our mini-schnauzer) wanting to play and wrestle all the time. He was always good to my kids, so great for them when they were young and they loved him so much. He was also good with other kids too. He liked to lay in my flower beds in the summer and there was one corner where I could never keep the plants alive because he would squish them every year. I cried as I removed the "booby traps" I had set around the plants to keep them from getting squished.

I am so thankful for all the years we had with him, even though it makes his passing that much harder.

He was such a good dog and I miss him more than I could imagine.

Thank you Cody for being the best dog for our family and loving us so well. We love you.

Courtney up and turned 15!

Well, I am not so good at blogging on a regular basis, but there have been a few events that have taken place in our lives that I want to share and document, so here goes.

Miss Courtney Bryn turned 15 years old on July 5th and I am amazed at how quickly time continues to go by. (I am going to come up with my own theory where I hypothesize that as you get older the faster time actually goes by. Me & Einstein, baby.)

We first enjoyed a lovely Independence Day. Kade played in the 3 on 3 basketball tournament at the Menan Park, Greg, Courtney & I attended the Menan parade together, ate lunch in the park, floated in the pond behind our property with Annie & her kids, BBQ at my parents house with Annie & Rachael's families, and then watched the fireworks show in Idaho Falls. Really, a picture perfect 4th of July with amazing weather.

The very next day was Courtney's big day. Since it was Sunday, we stayed pretty low key and BBQ'd at home with blue cheese steaks and sweet potatoes (her request). Later, family members joined us in a joint celebration with Kesley - who was born one year to the day after Courtney.

The next day, we had plans with friends. Courtney had received a paddle board (that she had been wanting for a whole year) for her birthday, so we made plans to party at the lake.  We had various friend join in at various times throughout the afternoon and evening. They swam, paddle boarded, played beach volleyball, ate snacks, collected rocks . . . the works.

After being at the lake for nearly four hours, we went back to the house where we cooked hot dogs and enjoyed cookie dough brownies and ice cream. Lots of music and lots of silliness.

So in honor of her birthday, I will share with you 10 things about Courtney Bryn Goody:

1. She hates feet. Mainly other people's feet, she can touch her own, but don't even think about getting a foot massage, or anything else that involves her touching your feet. It is not going to happen.

2. She just barely got her driving permit. Like, as in two days before her birthday. She was able to complete drivers education in two weeks time (thanks A+ Driving School) and she loves being able to drive our family to and fro around the town. She is a careful driver and has only scared her mother on a couple of occasions.

3. Courtney LOVES LOVES LOVES babies and most little kids. I don't often like taking her to see a new baby because she will end up wanting to hold the new baby the whole time. She is incredibly good with kids and loves to babysit. I don't know if it is because she doesn't have younger siblings to drive her crazy, but Courtney enjoys spending time with small children and her aunts love it when she is around.

4. She is TALL. I am afraid I am going to end up being the short one of the family. And for being 5'8", that is saying something. The last few years, she has grown quite a bit and is pretty much as tall as I am.

5. She is very kind and thoughtful. She helps those who need help and can typically tell when I am having a bad day. She is so nice that she doesn't always understand the sarcasm that runs rampant within our family, which means that she's much much sweeter than the rest of us.

6. Courtney loves blue cheese. Whether it's on a steak, with buffalo chicken wings, or in a salad, this girl is a tiny bit obsessed with blue cheese at the moment. (She has always had adult tastes when it comes to food.)

7. She needs her sleep. For as long as I can remember, Courtney has needed her sleep and being smack dab in the middle of her teenage years has not changed this. When she was little, sometimes she would just go put herself down for a nap - now it is more like crashing on the couch or wherever else she gets comfortable. She loves that she is afforded the luxury of sleeping in during the summer months.

8. She is a GREAT HELPER. I would die without this girl. She helps while I am work, she helps while I am home, and everywhere in between. She is great at cleaning and organizing and I am grateful for her help every day. I'd imagine I'll be lost without her someday.

9. Courtney is one smart cookie. This year I don't think she had anything less than an A- and even those were very few. She is smart and works hard to keep her grades up. This year she will be taking a few college courses as part of a program that will allow you to graduate high school with your associates degree. She has taken a culinary arts class over the summer to help her have enough electives as part of this program and has done really well at that too. She is planning on majoring in elementary education and knows if she works hard and focuses, she can accomplish this in much less time.

10. Random. Courtney can be described as random. She will make random noises, break out in random dances, sing random songs, you just never know what you're going to get with this girl. She keeps life interesting, that is for sure.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY COURTNEY BRYN!!! We sure love you and are glad to call you ours.