Farewell to Chelsea B

Hard does not describe the challenge of deciding whether and when to have your precious pet put to sleep, but that's the decision with which we have been struggling over the past few weeks.

Although we deeply believe that putting your faithful pet/companion to sleep before their suffering gets too great is the final act of love which you can bestow upon your pet, making that decision is heart-wrenching.

Let me tell you about Chelsea. When we learned in 1993 that we were going to be stationed in Panama and that we needed to leave our two 18-year-olds, David & Christy, in the states when we went overseas, our hearts were torn to shreds.

Knowing our struggle, and that Christy's chihuahua, Kodak, had recently died, two very faithful friends, Valerie & Kenny Mercy, (shown above with Chelsea last October) gave us a "fuzzy farewell to Panama present" in the form of a 9-week-old, golden-red, long-haired chihuahua. At our request, they gave us a girl from their puppy's litter. Kenny's task was to spoil her and turn her into a lap dog for us. He did a great job!

At the time, I was teaching at St. Pius X School in El Paso, and our new puppy's name came about in honor of good times there. For two years some of us teachers had gone for Happy Hour on Friday afternoons (for Diet Cokes, of course) to debrief from the stresses and share the joys and victories of the week. One year, we went to Chelsea Street Pub, and the year before that we'd gone to Bombay Bicycle Club, hence the name: Chelsea B. Chelsea might be the only Baptist dog named for two pubs!

For almost 15 years, Chelsea B has been a wonderful part of our family, but for over a year she has been dealing with cancer, which has turned into a large growth on her right lip and across the gums in her toothless mouth, which made eating her finely-chopped food and lapping water into the left side of the mouth, away from the cancerous growths, an ever-greater challenge for her. The spring is now missing from her step, the glimmer has dimmed in her eyes, and so early tomorrow morning we have an appointment with our wonderful vet, Annie Sostrin, who has walked this cancer journey with Chelsea and us, to set Chelsea free.

Tonight, for the first time in weeks, Chelsea ran into the house from her late-night walk, through the living room and down the stairs to bed. My heart broke, thinking, "The bounce is back the night before we put her to sleep?" But I've decided it was a gift -- one last romp, and then she'll be romping the streets of puppy heaven.

Note to my theologian friends: if you are considering writing and asking me to show you in scripture where it talks about puppy heaven, I have just one suggestion for you: Don't even go there with me right now!

And to end, a humorous story: A few weeks ago, Christy was telling her little Jon (now almost 2 1/2) that "Bapaw" and Grandma were going to be there to visit for the weekend.

Jon's response: "Bapaw, Grandma?"

Christy: "Yes!"

Jon: "And Sushi?"

Not understanding "Sushi", Christy asked him to repeat it, so Jon said, "And Sushi?"

Christy indicated she still didn't understand, so Jon said again, "Sushi!" as if to say, "Come on, Mom, you know what I mean!" at which time it dawned on her that Jon meant Chelsea.

And so to our little Chelsea B (aka "Sushi"), "Thank you for 15 great years of tummy rubs, walks, paw taps on the hand in the middle of the night for a head rub, snuggles in Neil's "Big Man" chair chosen because it fit you and him, and wonderful companionship. We love you, we truly thank God for you, and we will miss you!"


P.S. A little theological encouragement from friends who minister in New York. Emrys Tyler, husband of Sara (one of my former Fuller student wives) who read the blog early this morning, sent this excerpt from an article Emrys had written in response to the question, "Do Pet's Go to Heaven?" Thanks, Sara & Emrys!!

The scriptures tell us that the Lord will create "new heavens and a new earth," that the old earth and heaven which we live in now will we washed away (Revelation 21:1-5).

When scripture says "new heavens and new earth," everything within heaven and earth is included. So we may expect that maples, daffodils, hedgehogs, mockingbirds, and yes, even domestic pets will be re-created in the new creation. Just like Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15 that Christians will be given new bodies, bodies of glory rather than withering earthly bodies, I suspect that the new creation of glory will look somewhat different from the creation we see now. Maybe that means our parakeets will have fantastic plumage of shifting colour; maybe our Labradors will have barks that sound like small symphonies; maybe our hamsters will be big enough to cuddle up with, like giant teddy-bears. Who knows? In any case, I think pets may be in heaven.

My question: will we have to scoop cat litter in heaven?