Goodbye Molli
As you can see this column is different from what I usually write. Last Saturday my family had to put down our dog, Molli, after 14 great years with her. Because of this and after encouragement from my family I decided to write about my sweet girl.
Molli joined my family on July 4, 2009 and ever since that day she was the best dog we could have ever asked for.
Before getting Molli my parents did not want to get a dog, because of this I had to find a way to convince them that we should get one.
After watching an episode of the PBS show Between the Lions where Lionel Lion changed his parents minds by writing them letters I knew what I had to do. I quickly wrote a letter about why I needed a dog. The first letter did not work but after a few tries my parents began to look for places to get a puppy.
Molli and I became best friends right away. When we brought her home she sat on my lap and was excited to head home. We have a funny picture of her from the ride sticking her head through the hole of the head rest in front of us as she was exploring her new surroundings.
From that day Molli was a part of our family. We loved her and she loved us. I remember many times in my childhood where she would cuddle with me, spend time with me on the floor as I played and she would even watch my cartoons and movies with me.
Another thing that Molli did for me was teach me lessons. One of these lessons was that I needed to pick up my toys when I walked away from them. This lesson was learned after she ate one of my Star Wars action figure’s feet. I was mad about this at first but eventually I realized she was just giving me a new way to play with the figure. Without his feet the figure became my injured clone trooper!
Molli was special for me when we first got her because I was an only child. Until our family adopted Abbigale from China years later, Molli was the only sibling I had.
We all loved Molli and she loved us too. Over the past few days I’ve remembered how she used to show that love to me when I was sad. She could tell when I was upset and she would come lick me to try to cheer me up. I wish she could still do that now.
Molli always loved having people come to visit us. When she passed my family talked about our favorite memories of her. We all listed how she would greet people. When she got excited she would stand on her back legs and wave both of her arms in front of her. She still did this up to this year.
Abbigale’s arrival to our family showed just how special Molli is. When she was little Abbi did not always know how to pet Molli or show her love, sometimes she would accidentally be rough with her. Molli showed Abbi a lot of patience as she accepted this roughness.
Eventually we gave Molli a fur sister, Ginger. I was worried about us doing this because I did not want Molli to feel like she was loved less with Ginger around. Molli and Ginger did not always get along at first. Ginger liked to steal Molli’s toys and would sometimes try to rough house with her. Molli was getting older at this time and did not want to deal with Ginger’s wild puppy energy so she would try to avoid her.
Over time their relationship got better and they became closer. A lot of their days were spent sitting or laying together, taking naps or looking out our windows together. We can already tell that Ginger misses her too.
Molli was a very brave girl till the end. Her hearing was not that good at the end, her eyes were cloudy, she was not as strong as she once was but her heart was still as big. She spent her last days spending time with us.
While I know she’s no longer hurting and is in Heaven now it still hurts to know that she is gone. I still expect to see her in the mornings, when I come home from work or other times that I would see her throughout the day. While this makes me sad it also serves as a reminder of how special she was. We are sad because of our love for her and her love for us.
I am very lucky to have had such a good dog. She will always be in our hearts and she will always be loved. I look forward to seeing my sweet girl again in Heaven.
I love you forever Molli <3.