Love Pats

Documenting on 

Valentine's day.

Well...

after our last snow was melting, the donks hung around the gate wanting out so 

I turned them into the back pasture. 

 That turned out to be a mistake.  

Violet took a turn for the worse. 

 She started laying down most of the time and was having 

more trouble getting back up.  Even her facial expressions changed. 

 I started carrying hay

and water to her.  

Mike and I talked and we both knew it was time.  

On the day of this photo; after spending time with her I pulled out my phone and called the Vet. 

Friday at noon they'd be out to put her to sleep. 

 

It took me sooo  long to get her back up to the barn. 

 I knew I had to get her inside the 

pony pen because of all the  coyotes we see on our game cams. Spirit (her son) is old himself now and I really 

worried if he'd be able to protect her on his own from predators if she couldn't get up.  

It was such a relief to get her back up by the barn. 

Oh Violet.

I've loved this olde girl for so long.  

We got to figuring and we'd had her for just over 25 years and was

likely over 30 years old. 

Mike bought her for me during our early years of both working at 

the livestock auction.  

Then after my Momma moved on our place.... well; she absolutely

fell in love with ole Violet.    

Thursday I started digging through old photos to find 

pictures of the two of them together.   

I'm certain every person who ever came to visit her; she took them out to meet Violet and later

Violet's son Spirit. 

 I can still hear her call them...

"Viiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiolet!!!!!!!!!!!

Spiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit  Cmoooooon!!!!!!!!!

Those donks could be way in the back pasture and they'd hear her yell their 

names and two heads would pick up from grazing and there they'd go. 

Off to see Mamaw. 

She loved to spoil them with range cakes, 

apples and carrots.  

When her pear tree was ripe she'd feed those as well.  

I'm sure she gave them treats every day for as long

as she was able.  

After my Mom died;

Violet became even more precious to us.  

Violet was ... like having a piece of her still here in some ways.   

Looking through so many photos reopened my floodgates.  

I told myself I could cry on Thursday

 but not on  Friday.

Friday I wanted to not cry around Violet.  

I wanted to give her the happiest  ending that I possibly could.  

I went down long before noon and put thick hay  on the floor of the  barn. 

I got her inside and brushed her and let her have as many range cakes 

as she wanted.  Next thing I knew my sweet husband came home from work to be there for us.  

That's love.  

The Vet was prompt.  

Seeing his truck come up the drive ...made my heart and belly ache..   

He waited while I  lead her into the middle of the thick hay and he gave her the first shot. 

 Mike tried to help guide her down with the sedation.  

Once she was laying down in the thick hay... I stroked  her neck and told her what a good girl she was until she went to sleep forever.  

It was a peaceful happy ending.  

Olde Spirit watched from the other side of the gate. 

Poor Spirit.  He's been with his Momma for 17-18 years. 

I've told others I don't know if animals go to heaven but I like to believe myself that they do. 

I imagined my Momma so happy to see Violet again and could almost hear

her calling her again.  What a sweet reunion.

That thought ... helps.  

After the Vet left, 

I rode with Mike in the backhoe up into the front pasture.  

That's another blessing with all this.  

He dug her grave up near my Momma's old homeplace- right near the gate

where she called  up the donks.  

Thankfully he didn't run into any problems and then we went back down to our place 

and got the tractor.  He so carefully strapped her to the front and carried her back up there.  

I fell in love with him all over again that day; --my husband is a kind hearted man.  

He got down in the hole with her to unchain and unstrap her from the bucket. 

Then I saw him carefully put her tail down and then gave her the sweetest  love pat on the neck

before climbing back out.  

That gesture meant more to me than all the  roses or chocolates in the whole wide world.  

Chokin back tears,  I thought of that while following 

him back to the house.  

Love is all the little things like that.

The day after Violet  was buried it got very cold here again. 

It was such  relief to know she wasn't suffering and laying 

on the frozen ground in pain. 

RIP olde girl.   

Through it all... were so many other gifts. 

Like this guy coming by after work and saying, 

Momma, wanna go fishin?

He was so sweet. 

 I wasn't catching anything... not even a bite and 

he just kept reeling them in one after the other.  

He was using his Grampaw's fishin rod who passed away last Fall.  

Trent just couldn't handle that I wasn't catching anything.  He changed my baits...

kept telling me where to cast... how to hold my rod... and wouldn't  give up 

until I finally caught one. 

I bet his Grampaw was smiling down on him.  

Then we also got this ray of sunshine for all weekend.  

  

She likes to help do every thing now.

At one point her hands got cold and Papa took off 

his own gloves and put them on her saying, 
"You can warm up in these; they were your 

Great Papa Roger's gloves."

(that was another love pat) 

Don't think I've played so much Barbi and Mermaid 

in my whole life as we did this weekend.  

I try to keep stocked up on costumes and Princess gowns and 

before the night was through she was in her mermaid dress right in the bathtub 

because... well it's what mermaids do. 

On this Valentines day I feel so much gratitude.  

For reconnecting with family...

for our friends who dropped by...

and that 

He

first loved us most of all. 

Until we meet again,

<*))))><