In Loving Memory

Jake Edward Whitaker

February 23, 1993 – August 10, 2005

Beloved “Little Boy with Fur”    Dear Friends,  If you have spent any time at all with Danny and I during the past twelve and a half years, you have certainly met Jake, most probably as he met you at the door of our home, toy in his mouth, tail wagging.  He touched everyone in a special way. He was more than just a dog; he was our “little boy with fur.” Danny and I will always think of him as our “honeymoon” baby – born nine months after we married.  He was one of 13 puppies and we were truly blessed the day we decided to keep him out of all the others. Not a day has gone by in all that time that he has not been here, in the center of our home and hearts. We were so happy to give him that long awaited baby sister last year.  Hannah delighted in Jake and I suspect the feeling was mutual. He was her inspiration to start crawling and her favorite past-time soon became crawling over him and then back again. Although not always feeling his best, Jake never seemed to mind her attention. He was protective of her, and loved her even though at times I am sure he missed his once peaceful home. On Wednesday night, it was painfully obvious that Jake was in a state of extreme distress and recovery was not going to be possible. With heavy hearts, we said goodbye to our “first” baby and laid him to rest under our beautiful dogwood tree. This morning, I was compelled to create this short tribute to share the news of his passing with those of you who loved Jake and will miss him also. As I contemplated this memorial, I remembered a day, not long after we had moved to this house. It was Sunday morning, and Danny and I were getting ready for church. I let Jake out for his usual morning walk around the yard, forgetting that we had installed a new sprinkler system and it was due to engage at any moment. When I went to call Jake in, I looked out the window into the front yard and saw him leaping in the air, giddy with excitement, chasing streams of water as they poured from the sprinkler heads. It is one of my favorite Jake moments. The look of pure joy was written all over his face.  This one thought has kept me breathing the last day or so….perhaps all this rain we have had this week means God has just installed a new sprinkler system in heaven and now, Jake is there, once again leaping through the air, joy written on his face, having the time of his life as God looks through the window and smiles.   Thanks for indulging the ramblings of this grief-stricken doggie mommy as I struggle to say goodbye and accept the loss of our dear, dear Jake.  

 I wrote the above post in August of 2005, when my beloved Jake passed away. Today I wanted to re-post it to this blog. My new post will make more sense this way.