Saying goodbye

As I've shared, my family had 17 puppies to take care of for a month and a half...as much "fun" as that was and no matter how cute they are...I am very happy that all but three have found new homes. I put an add in the freebies of the Muskegon Chronicle for this last Saturday and my first phone call Saturday was at 7:00 in the morning...it was insane. From then on for the rest of the day I was answering the phone nonstop...I stopped answering phone calls at 8:00 that night. At 7:30am, the first puppy was gone (sadly it was one of the ones I wanted to keep...poor Indiana). My Mom and sister Amanda gave baths to about 10 puppies in the first 2 hours of being up...and Amanda spent most of the day bathing the rest of the puppies, while Kristina puppysat downstairs. As for me...I was on phone & adoption duty ALL day. I was constantly running up & down the stairs, showing & giving people puppies, answering the phone, and trying to walk without my 3 puppies tripping me. By about 3:00pm there was only a few puppies & 2 momma dogs left. The momma dogs went shortly after that (to my surprise) and I was starting a "waiting list" for the few puppies I had left. At about 5:00 I started telling people I was out of puppies, but the last 2 puppies were taken at about 6:00 and 7:00. The last puppy was a beautiful girl that was mostly black and had bluish gray eyes. I spent some special time hugging her to say goodbye while I waited for the very happy woman coming to get her. It was a bittersweet moment, as I was both happy and sad that this adventurous chapter in my family's life came to a close...and as I think about it now it brings a tear (or two) to my eyes. Its like when parents watch their children take their first steps or say their first words. Its kind of hard saying goodbye to all your kids...when it seems like just yesterday you were saying hello for the first time or when they first opened their eyes. Although one and a half months isn't nearly as long as a year or more, it still seems like time has gone to fast and they don't need you anymore. I hope with all my heart, that every person I gave a puppy to, makes a good family and home for that puppy. No matter how stinky they were, how much food they ate, or how noisy they were...they were my kids and I'll definitely miss all of them, but now I must give my time to my 3 puppies and the rest of my pets. Everytime I look at Bear, Nanook, and Lucky, I'll think of their moms, 14 brothers and sisters, and how I did enjoy the small amount of time I shared with them.