![\"Hudson_1.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/Hudson_1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hudson was my sister Jean’s dog. She had him for years, and she counted it out last weekend – he had actually lived with her in nine different places. He was a beautiful black lab, and a member of our family. He came on our vacations with us. He swam in the lake or the ocean, feverishly chasing down sticks. A sweet friendly boy with big soft brown eyes, who would lie in the floor in the living room, wanting to be a part of everything, even as he gassed us out of the room.<\/p>\n
He got sick very quickly over the last two weeks. He stopped eating and drinking. You could see the pain dulling his eyes. Even his face looked different, slimmer, more pinched.<\/p>\n
Monday, Jean and Pat made the difficult decision to have him put down.<\/p>\n
Hudson was sweet, warm, and funny as well. He had a squeaky fish toy that he loved so much that it was almost embarrassing to watch him play with it. He would escape and run through the woods, rolling gloriously in nasty substances. Once he was sprayed by a skunk. Once, he ate an entire blueberry pie that was left on the counter when Jean left the kitchen for 10 minutes. He had a very good life and he was very much loved.<\/p>\n
In late September, he served as the ring-bearer in Jean and Pat’s wedding. He wore a little pillow on his back like an elephant with the rings tied on with a ribbon. Mimi walked him down the aisle, and we could see his poor tail waving slowly … first this way … then a pause … then that way … pause again … so different from his normally frantic wagging … it showed that he knew it was a happy moment, but it also showed that he didn’t know what the hell was going on<\/i>. At the top of the aisle sat my parents, waiting to walk Jean down the aisle and as Hudson passed he walked right up to them, sniffing them, perhaps looking for a comforting scent in the weird world he now found himself in. But he did a great job. He sat on the grass beside Mimi during the ceremony and Siobhan and I both looked over at him during the service and he was lying there with his mouth WIDE open, panting for breath, but it made him look like he was totally blissed out, in a state of ecstasy. It was hysterical.<\/p>\n
We love you so much, Hudson. You were a good good boy.<\/p>\n
You saw to it that you stuck around long enough to see Jean happily married to Pat … and then I guess you knew it was time for you to go.<\/p>\n
We miss you already.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hudson was my sister Jean’s dog. She had him for years, and she counted it out last weekend – he had actually lived with her in nine different places. He was a beautiful black lab, and a member of our … Continue reading