On January 29th, we found our precious boy had passed away sometime in the wee hours. Syd came downstairs that morning and said something funny that alerted me to a problem - "mom, Jasper is sleeping hard in Millie's doorway". Not odd that he would be with his favorite gal, Millie...just the use of "sleeping hard". I went to investigate and sure enough, he was gone. I cried so hard knowing how awful it would be to tell Millie. She loved him so much. We all did, but Millie and Jasper really had a special bond. He adored her. He made it known for an entire year that he wanted to sleep with her and would bang on her door until she finally gave in. He was very persistent. And he was SO funny and made us laugh every single day. He insisted on being in the middle of everything we did here at the house, a constant presence watching and laying on stuff he shouldn't be. He lived to eat, and we had recently considered renaming him Augustus Gloop after the chubby Willy Wonka character who couldn't stop eating.
The morning it happened, we allowed the girls to see him - he looked so peaceful. We all said our goodbyes and gave sweet pats. Lily gave a few face licks to her brother, and we imagine this was her goodbye. Then I took him to the vet, and she said it was most likely due to an undetected heart issue. Poor Jasper. It's been a month now, and Millie is still struggling a bit. It was so unexpected, since he was only 2 years old. The girls still have questions and still talk about him daily. There is a sweet little shrine currently on our mantle to honor him. In this house, pets become family and I wouldn't want it any other way. But goodness, it's hard to watch your kids when they are so sad. A hard life lesson to learn. As Syd so eloquently put it - "I thought he would last longer." RIP sweet boy, Lily sure misses you too.
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