Jonas turns five tomorrow. It’s hard to believe.

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My parents put my childhood dog, Lizzy, to sleep yesterday.

She was almost 13 years old and her health was failing; my parents put her down right before things really got bad- so she didn’t really suffer much.

This was seriously the best dog ever. She was a gorgeous English Springer Spaniel who we rescued when her owner died from cancer. She was so friendly and sweet. She slept with me every night when I was a kid- and when I left for college- she didn’t know where to sleep.

She was super protective and loyal to me. Once when my little brother and I were play fighting he lunged at me and she bit him in the butt!

She would also sit at my feet adoringly and listen to me sing whenever I had to practice for a competition. Sometimes she would sing along.

She always cared more about her people than about herself. One time my brother was rollerblading and Lizzie was running around with him and she got hit by a vehicle that just sped away. My little brother freaked out and crashed on his roller blades and Lizzie ran over and checked on him, on a BROKEN FOOT. Even though she was really hurting- she had to make sure he was alright.

My mom says that in the past few weeks Lizzie had looked like she was in pain, and she’s almost completely incontinent. But, every time she thought that you were looking at her she would sit up and look as happy as she could and wag her tail- but when she thought you looked away she would relax, tired and in pain. Her “job” was to make everyone else happy, and she took it seriously.

Yesterday morning, amid all the chaos of Jonas’ birthday party and people coming over, I had the urge to go look at her picture, even though I had no idea that it was her last day. My mom says maybe that was Lizzie’s gentle way of saying, “Remember me.” I know I always will.