I really don't want to ruin anyone's Holiday season, but I just had to get this out of me. They say it is always good to get your hurt out, that it will make it easier. I have already sent this to all my friends and it was suggested that I blog it. If you don't want to look through the album, I will understand. I have been told that this site is about People, their cars, their accomplishments, their failures and their losses.

We lost a friend, loyal companion, buddy and part of our family. Our loyal, loving pet dog Rusty passed away Christmas eve.

We had all our family over for our usual Christmas Eve celebration and the guys were in the den watching TV and talking about cars and stuff and the girls were all in the kitchen doing what the girls do. My wife came in the den and told me that something was wrong with Rusty. When I got in the kitchen, my granddaughter and a friend of hers were sitting by Rusty, He was laying on his rug in front of his food and water bowls. His front legs were twitching and jurking and his eyes were very glassy. My granddaughter was trying to get him up to give him a treat but he just layed there. I got down in front of him and rubbed him and talked to him but he did not respond right away. He finally halfway raised up and took the treat from my granddaughter but he did not chew it, he just held it in his mouth. We decided to take him to the Emergency Vet. Our son picked him up and carried him to the car. My wife got in the back seat with him and all the way to the Vet, he never opened his eyes, but he was still breathing. We got to the Vet and they brought out a gurney and we put him on it and they rolled him in while I parked the car. When I got inside the hospital, we were sent to an examining room where the doctor came in and started telling us that he was not doing well at all and was not responding to her either. She said they did some tests and his heart was beating strong but his liver was not in good condition. We told her that he had been having a lot of trouble getting around in the house and we almost had to carry him out every time he had to go to the bathroom. Rusty has been having a lot of problems with his back legs and we have been treating him and giving him vitamins to try to help with that. She told us that we really needed look at his quality of life situatiion and make a decision what we really wanted to do. Considering he was 13 years old, that is 91 in dog years. She left us alone to talk about it and both of started crying and holding each other because we knew what we had to do. The Vet came back in and we told her what we had decided. It was time to put Rusty to rest and ease. They rolled him in on a table and he was covered with a blanket and they had already put the IV in his front leg. She left us alone with him and we spent about half an hour talking to him and holding him. The Dr. came back in with the medication to put him to sleep. We waited for a few more minutes and told her it was time. She injected the medication and within a few minutes she put her stethascope on his little chest and said he was gone. Rusty was asleep. This was at 7:27 PM Christmas Eve. We said our goodbyes and went back home and everyone was still there and we had Christmas with the family, but it just wasn't the same without him laying on the living room floor with everyone around him. After everyone finally left, we just sat in silence holding each other and finally went to bed.

Christmas morning was very difficult. I usually get up and take him outside but he was not there. We got our coffee and went into the living room for our Christmas and we started crying again because his presents were still under the tree.

Us guys all think we are so tough and don't have feelings, but when you loose such a good pal like Rusty, it really show us just how much we really feel. Every morning that I get up, I start sobbing because my pal is not there to go outside with me.

This Christmas has been a very sad one to say the least but we have tried our best to make it Merry.

A lot of my friends here on Motortopia have already responded to my album. Everytime I read one of their replies, I start getting teary eyed again. I had no idea that this would make such an impact on all of them, but it did.

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