Maggie Mae has Gone Away.

The email I've been expecting has unfortunately arrived.

My sister had her beloved Maggie put to sleep this morning.

Gretchen and Steve have had Maggie longer than they've had their children and at times probably wish that they had just had Maggie instead of having children. (Ha ha!)

I'm sure it's been said a thousand times about a thousand different dogs, but it can't be helped. You couldn't have asked for a better dog than my Maggie Mae. She was the ultimate children's pet. Good natured and patient. Protective and obedient. Okay, so she had a problem keeping her head out of the trash, but a girl has got to have one vice, right?

You always hear the horror stories about the dog who loses its place of importance once the kids come along. How they get jealous and resent the kids or take their jealousy out on the family's shoes.

Not, Maggie.

Almost from the moment that Gretchen became pregnant, Maggie became a mother. Gretchen may have THOUGHT that she gave birth to Shelby, Carly, and Bradley, but the truth of the matter is that Maggie just let her borrow her human "puppies." She was attentive to Gretchen through the pregnancies and even when Gretchen was on bed rest with the twins, rarely left her side.

When Shelby was very young, like toddler age. Steve heard Maggie crying and whining in the livingroom. He went to investigate to see what was wrong her. He discovered the problem soon enough. There in the middle of the room lay Mags with Shelby sitting with her. It would truly have been a Kodak moment if it hadn't been for Shelby methodically poking Maggie in the eye over and over and over again as Maggie just whined and cried. She would never hurt one of her "puppies" even if it was blinding her.

Don't worry. The twins aren't without their own little "tormenting Maggie" story. One day, I showed up at my sister's to find that she had what appeared to be some sort of dog shaped fawn. Or maybe it was a fawn coated dog. In any event, Carly and Bradley had somehow located a scissors and decided to give the Mags a hair cut. They had cut small, oval spots of Maggie's darker brown, black tipped overcoat and revealed the whitey beige of her undercoat leaving her with a fawn-like spotted pattern. I fondly referred to her as Bambi until her coat grew back.

Though I would go to visit my sister and her family quite often when I lived in Pennsylvania, it was always Maggie who would greet me first. Standing on her back legs, she would wrap her front legs around my waist and give me the equivilent of a doggie hug. Though she was a good sized dog, not small by any stretch of the imagination, she always believed herself to be a lap dog. If I sat on the couch long enough, I could usually count on having her lying on top of me at some point. If you were friend or family, you always got Maggie as a hostess. She would sit next to the visitor and give them her full attention. Even if they didn't want it.

My husband, Jeff, is opposed to dogs in general principle. He finds them loud, smelly, droolly, and germy with no evident good points. That makes it a bit difficult for me sometimes as I love any kind of furry creature and my family has always been a dog family. Maggie didn't let that get in her way when we would go to visit. No matter how many times you tried to move her or order her across the room, she would always find her way to Jeff's side. She would plaster herself against his leg and lay her head in his lap, looking up at him with her dark eyes as if to say, "how can you possibly not like me?" And truly, who could not like or love Maggie Mae.

Well, besides Kate. It grieves me that Kate never really took a shine to the Magster. No matter how hard Maggie tried, she just could not get my "puppy" to accept her. I'm sure in time, Kate would have grown to love her when she had grown a bit taller. When her face was no longer at tongue level and the hard whip of a tail didn't practically knock her off her feet. Though she sure enjoyed feeding her. Put Kate on a chair and hand her some food and she would gleefully throw food to Maggie. And if Maggie and Holly were playing chase in the backyard, Kate would laugh and shriek and encourage them on. I'm sure that Maggie would have won her over in the end.

I know my sister is killing herself for having made the decision to have her put down. She feels she let Maggie down somehow when Maggie was always there for her and the family and gave so much for her. Hopefully, she'll come to feel that what she did was the kindest gift she could have given to her canine companion. She showed strength and compassion instead of weakly allowing Maggie to suffer through her remaining days. After many years of faithful service, Gretchen was able to repay her by providing her with the greatest gift that she could. Her freedom.

Maggie had a heart as big as the world and her love will beat within us long after the pain fades.

My Maggie Mae has gone away. Good bye, old girl.