Goodbye little Belle . . .

July 22, 1993 - November 24, 2008

Our little Belle was a sweet dog. Always gentle and agreeable. She was the only real character in my books, and she was just as sweet as I wrote her.

Can you spot her in the above photo? The kids fell asleep after a movie night, and she curled up with them. (I was upstairs on the landing.)

She loved being with her family. Here she is inside a blanket tent with the girls.

She really loved going for walks.

Her favorite napping spot was on the stairs in the sun... or on winter days, in front of the fire.

She would poke her head out of the rail on the bridge above the family room and play catch with a tennis ball. Sometimes we'd be sitting there, and a tennis ball would drop down at our feet! When we looked up, Belle would be waiting to play.

This was the day daughter # 2 had her braces removed.

When she got older, she got pretty gray.

We knew she couldn't hear or see much lately. This morning she fell down the stairs. She seemed to rally, but late in the afternoon she stumbled a few times, and daughter # 1 and I took her to the vet. She was 15+ years old, and when the vet told us she lived in a quiet, lonely place due to her lack of vision and hearing, we knew we couldn't ask her to stay with us any longer.

She fell asleep in our arms . . .