Mischa

 Christmas part II did not go at all as planned.  The plan was that Dad would drive from Colby and Mom would fly from Eugene and arrive Wednesday the 23rd.  Then Kenneth would fly in from Portland and spend some time with Andy and his family in Chicago and they'd both drive over to Michigan on Sunday the 27th and we'd do Christmas all together with everyone then. 


Well, parents arrived late Wednesday evening and after we showed them around and talked for a bit it was time for bed.  Got up Thursday morning and had breakfast, mom started wrapping her presents, and then she got a call from the dog sitter that something was wrong with Mischa.  To make a long, painful story short, she had apparently fallen off the top of the couch and injured her neck/spine when she fell somehow.  We spent most of that day waiting.  Waiting for the dog sitter to take her to the vet, waiting for news from the vet, waiting for her to be transported from one vet to another one, waiting for more opinions, tests, results, etc.  During that time, not knowing what was going to happen, we decided to go ahead and open each others' Christmas presents, which turned out to be a good decision.  In the end, after Kenneth drove from Portland to Eugene and took her back up to Portland to see a specialist, who ended up saying she was getting worse and wouldn't be good for her to continue on like that, they ended up putting her to sleep that evening, with Kenneth there with her and mom and dad on the phone saying goodbye. 

The spirit of the holiday was pretty much over at that point.  Mom and dad flew back to Eugene early the next morning to take care of her and be with Fritz, Kenneth cancelled his flight to be with them, and we were left with about a week and a half of awkward, quiet days.  It was an awful, shocking, unexpected thing to have happen, so I will end the post with a description of Mischa and the awesome girl she was. 

As you can tell from the pictures, we got Mischa when she was a puppy, about 8 weeks old or so, with her "brother" (not technically related) Fritz the summer before my senior year of college (2009).  Fritz was more playful most of the time, but she was definitely the alpha and would put him in place if need be.  I spent many hours with them both that summer, and though I spent lots of time with both of them, potty training, playing, teaching them to walk on a leash, etc., but  for some reason she felt more "mine", than Fritz did.  I named her, would snuggle with her, etc.  Sometimes I'd be on the floor and put my arms over my head and pretend I needed help and she'd come running over and burrow under my arms until she got to my face and could lick it and make sure everything was ok.  As they got older, Fritz was the more playful one and she was the snuggler, the lover and was very demanding in her needs for affection and attention, and would not let you stop petting her.  She was a sweetheart, and I'm glad I got to help raise her. 

Now Fritz has a new buddy, a puppy my parents have recently gotten named Stella, who I'm anxious to meet in a couple of days and hope that she can Gromit can be playmates :)