A Life of Words

We said tearful goodbyes Friday at the vet’s office to our wonderful, loyal, loving Maisy, the terrier mix who adopted us 15-plus years ago as a rescue from the Richardson Humane Society.

Maisy joined our Arlington family well into adulthood at about 3 years old on January 31, 2009, and we gave her the best life we could. Our children, now 22 and 19, were only 7 and 4 when Maisy blessed us. With every passing year, we became more and more amazed she was still with us.

In 2012, we made her life a bit more challenging when we adopted a rescue kitty named Teena, whose antics made Maisy miserable at times. But Maisy was always such a docile and patient sweetheart, she just moved along from the occasional hissing and batting. Cats will be cats, she must’ve realized.

Maisy and Kay had a beautiful bond. It seemed whenever Maisy wasn’t taking a nap, eating, outside or doing something else, she followed Kay everywhere. If she went in our closet, Maisy was there. If she was brushing her teeth, Maisy was beside her. If she was cooking, Maisy was an ever-present shadow (looking for any scraps that might fall, of course).

When Kay wasn’t home, Maisy could spend hours roaming the house, going to the front door to sniff, poking her snout through the blinds to get a glimpse out front, or hopping up on the couch to stare longingly, anticipatingly at the door, hoping Mommy would walk through at any moment. Maisy loved us all, but her affection for Kay was deep and mighty.

For such an elderly dog, Maisy’s health during her later years was pretty miraculous. She had her issues like all four-legs do, including a heart murmur, hearing loss, and the extraction of several teeth. She started losing weight several months ago but could still get around perfectly well, running, jumping up and down from furniture and in and out of her doggie window into the backyard.

In more recent months, Maisy also started losing bowel and bladder control, having some accidents in the house, but we gladly cleaned up after her. We also could see signs of canine dementia, which apparently is pretty common in elderly pups. And we knew that with Maisy’s age – 17-18 being in the range of a 90- to 95-year-old human by most estimates – it would be only a matter of time before she’d have to leave us.

But we discussed things with her vet and agreed that as long as she was eating well, walking fine and still in good spirits, there was no reason to consider drastic measures yet.

It was just in the past few weeks that Maisy’s appetite fell off, and we could see her back legs start to give out. She still walked fine and, although we decided it was best to let her go in and out through the patio door, she still used the window a few times to hang out in the yard, even in her last couple of days. Maisy was such a strong, brave girl.

(Click on the link below to see a video of Maisy playing on Super Bowl Sunday in February 2022)

Shared album – Frank Christlieb – Google Photos

Next month marks a year since Maisy went on an adventure after escaping from our house for over an hour. We think the front door was accidentally left open and she slipped out, wandering nearly a mile away and ending up in the middle of a busy street that borders our subdivision before some dear folks rescued her.

We have several guesstimates at Maisy’s DOB, but July 1, 2006 seems likely to be the closest – so she almost made it to 18. She was rescued in May 2008 and fostered by a wonderful family until we fell in love with her the following January.

Maisy will never leave our hearts and memories, and we’ll always be thankful she chose us as the family she wanted to spend her life with. We love you forever, sweet May-May. ❤