Your Guardian Angel

Dear Delilah,

I’ve mentioned the roller coaster that was the few weeks leading up to your birth. Today is the anniversary of one of the lowest points of that ride. One year ago today, we lost our beloved yellow lab Anka.



Anka was a great dog. She was sweet, affectionate, and beautiful. She loved running laps and wasn’t picky about whether those laps were around the maple tree in our backyard or around the coffee table in the living room. She was a master retriever and would play fetch for hours. Poor Sadie couldn’t keep up! Sadie could never get to a thrown object before Anka could, so she gave up trying and learned how to play defense instead! Anka was very non-confrontational, so she never tried to steal her ball or Frisbee back from Sadie, she’d let her have it, find something else that could be thrown, and prance over to us to throw the new item instead.

Anka got very sick from Lyme disease last fall. The day after Halloween, she was at her sickest yet, and when we took her in to the vet, we found out that her kidneys were failing and that she was in a lot of pain and wouldn’t get better. The decision to have her put to sleep was painful and difficult. We loved her so much, and she was so young. We wanted her to meet you. We knew she would love you. Seeing you with our other pets now, we know that you’d love her too, although chances are you’d get tired of getting knocked over by her wild tail that never stopped wagging.

She was put to sleep peacefully in our home by her favorite veterinarian. It was a time of mixed emotions. It’s hard to figure out how to grieve the loss of a dog who was not merely a pet, but a member of our family, while at the same time being so excited about the birth of you, our baby girl. One of our greatest sources of comfort was knowing that Anka was still with us in spirit and that she would watch over and protect you. Her energy still fills our home to this day, and you are a lucky little girl to have the best guardian angel dog anyone could ask for.

Love,

Mama