A friend of mine had mentioned several times in the past few months of her concern, worry and sadness about Simba, her best friend and traveling companion of many, many years.
Simba was who helped her through some of the most painful times of her life.
She got through it all side-by-side with Simba.

She could see the signs even though Simba put up a brave effort to hide them.
I’ve always heard that our furries do NOT want their people to know when something is wrong.
Still, mom’s know!

I saw the sad news on Facebook, a place I’ve become accustomed to checking often during the day to keep conversations going.

Simba was gone……over that Rainbow Bridge…..free to roam.

Anyone who has ever loved and lost a furry friends knows what my friend is going through today and will be for many days to come.

Time is the only salve that will lessen the pain.

I was reading when my old furry-ball, Mr Lincoln slowly, unsteadily made his way to me.
He looked up at me, even though we both know he can’t see but those inquisitive, mischievous eyes, they still get to me.

Mr Lincoln’s job in this family has been to make us laugh and well….has he ever!
He can’t jump up anymore so I reached down and pulled him up to my lap.
He lay still, very unlike Mr Lincoln.
Almost like he knew that I wanted him to just sit still for a bit and listen to me.

We talked for a few minutes, well…..I talked, he listened.

Reading about Simba made me realize that my Mr Lincoln is on the path to that Rainbow Bridge also.
Now was the time to tell him thank you.

Thank you for all the laughs and the love.
I reminded him that his two brothers, Bartles and Jaymes and loads of fur-relatives are waiting for him.
He’ll love it.

Mr Lincoln is a wanderer, in his youth he was a runner, an escape artist…always waiting at the doors at any opportunity to slip out and run.

Once when he ran away, my husband chased him for over a mile.
When he finally trapped him, he had no means of getting him home other than to carry him.
That 30 pound “lug”, under his arm for a mile caused him months of shoulder pain and numerous trips to the doc for steroid injections.
It actually took a few years for it to finally disappear completely.

We lived in a golf cart community for a while and Mr Lincoln never ran far.
Just to the nearest house he could smell food coming from.

We’ve been told stories of how he’d bang on peoples screens to get in and then go straight to their kitchen.

Once he was even able to open the patio screen enough to get through and the people found their dog dishes empty of food and Mr Lincoln napping on their sofa!

He was chipped and also wore ID tags, so we always got a call whenever he decided to roam and then minutes later, here he’d come, down the road in the passenger seat of someone’s golf cart, sitting upright and proud.

He’s been a wild and crazy, goofy boy since the day we brought him home.

He was only 8 weeks old and now, this summer he’ll be 13, that’s 91 in people years.

That crazy, furry, curly, ADORABLE guy who used to grab socks out of our houseguests luggage and run through the dog door out into the back yard, staring at the patio door waiting for us to see him standing there with a sock in his mouth…
that goofy dog who’d jump into our pond, splash around til we heard him and then race us to the dog door, trying to get inside before we stopped him…
that crazy guy who prefers to sit in a stroller on our walks and pose for passer-bys who stop to laugh…

That guy owns a huge piece of our hearts.

Every single day of his life, Mr Lincoln has made us laugh…often, not counting the few times he’s been to ill to barely lift his head.

That was his job, to make us laugh and, that he’s done.

Now he moves slowly, doesn’t care so much about eating anymore and spends most of his days slowly following us through the house and falling asleep at every opportunity.

We’re not ready for this, we’ll never be ready but we feel him edging closer and closer toward that bridge.

What we know is there will never be another Mr Lincoln in our lives and forever we’ll laugh at the memories he leaves us with.

Everytime I read about someone else sayin’ bye to their loving four-legged-friend, first my heart hurts for them and then I think of Mr Lincoln.

I’ve said it so many times…..anyone who has ever had to say bye, feels their pain.

So my friends, no matter how old your furry four-legged-pal is…..today would be a good day to scoop them up in your arms, tell the how much they’re loved and….. tell ‘em THANKS!