Things are very glum at our house. My daughter accidentally struck her 13-year-old terrier with her car last night, killing her instantly. The dog was developing cataracts and perhaps just didn’t see the car. And my daughter thought she had gone to the other side of the garage.

Grief is Compounded

Not only is my grief over the loss of the dog, but it is compounded because my daughter is absolutely shattered that she did this to her own dog. And, believe it or not, she did the same to our 17-year-old dachshund, who was blind and deaf, six years ago.

Everyone Was Crying But Me

I don’t know why, but when the accident happened and since, my husband keeps tearing up, my daughter cries constantly and my 6-year-old grandson was crying last night, though by today he’s moved on–but no tears from me. Why didn’t I cry? I’m not sure. But I think I felt the need to be strong for my daughter.

Molly’s Driving

Molly is 29, and she and her son live with us. Molly has made a success of her life after some early bumps in the road and is now on a full scholarship for graduate school at Texas State. But her driving behavior isn’t as great as the rest of her personal behavior.

She has a new car now and is trying to be careful, but she pulls into our driveway and garage pretty quickly, while our dogs rush out to greet us. That just didn’t work out so well last night for our terrier, Nassi. Molly insists she saw the dog on the other side of the garage, but apparently the dog turned and ran into the path of Molly’s car.

Sweet Dog Doggone It

It was sad to lose the sweet terrier mix. She was gentle for the most part, though in her elder years she was getting a bit more cranky. She had a mostly white coat with black spots here and there, a mostly black face and red eyebrows.

St. Patrick’s Day Coat

In fact, one year my husband used green food coloring to turn her coat green and walked her around the neighborhood for St. Patrick’s Day. She was proud, and so was my husband. The newspaper ran it on Page 1.

Laid to Rest Today

Nassi will be laid to rest today beneath a spreading pecan in the back yard, where she–like a squirrel–used to gather pecans and break them open for the nuts. She’s in the company of the dachshund, JoJo, who is buried nearby.

And we’ll all be better by and by.