Dear Buster,

You have been such a loyal companion and my best friend. I remember when you and your brothers and sisters came out from underneath the barn where you all were living and you ran straight to us with that big grin on your face. As a matter of fact, the seller said he had nicknamed you “Happy” because you always looked like you were smiling. I'm so glad you chose us to be the ones to make you part of our family. Life was good with you as you always had me smiling and laughing when I would play with you. Whenever I felt down we would hangout together and in no time I would feel better.

During the worst times you were always the bright and comforting light throughout those dark times. Just having you around got me through some of the toughest times I've experienced. There was a time when I saw both my first grandchild and my mother taken off of life support within 2 months of each other. I thought I could not stand another loss and let that cloud my thinking.

Now, here we are. After watching you deteriorate to the point where you cannot stand up without help or sit down without what looks like pain despite the pain medicine and therapies; I can no longer be selfish about keeping you with me. It's not just the pain, it's the loss of your faculties, mobility, and lack of joy by not wanting to do things you used to love doing. I'm guilty of putting my thumb on the “quality of life scale” and fooling myself to think that you were having more good days than bad. This is by far one of the toughest decisions I've had to make. I've come to realize that your physical pain outweighs my selfish desire to not want to grieve over letting you go. You've been my best friend for over 13 years and it's ripping my heart out to give you up but, I have to. I want to do right by you Buster and let you go.

Goodbye dear friend.