In the past couple weeks, I've really seen how many lives Smokey impacted by the huge outpouring of love we've received from family, friends, and even perfect strangers who'd been forwarded a video of Smokey, or shared memories of watching him in the shop window. It's been so heart-warming to feel everyone's love and to soak in the knowing of what amazing friends we have. Without each of you, these last couple weeks would have been so much darker. Thank you for sharing our memories and love of Lil Smokey.
I know I didn't do a good job of explaining what happened - it was just too hard to type it out. Smokey was playing in the front yard with Jay and wandered down to the side walk next to the road. He didn't listen when Jay called him back and, when the lady across the street came out with her dog, Smokey darted across the street to say hi. The driver never saw him jump out from between the parked cars. He was struck by the bumper, but missed each tire. Jay was by his side immediately, and laid over him as his last breath escaped his little body. He never felt any pain.
I heard the indecipherable screams from inside the house and immediately knew what happened. I ran outside to find them, and the sound of the earth shattering filled the air. The next few minutes were a blur of pain. A couple neighbors we'd never met had come out to help - one calming the young, distraught driver, and the other redirecting traffic as we laid in the street with our lil puppy. Without their caring and assistance, I really don't know how we would have gotten through the situation. Thank you so very, very much!
Even though that was one of the worst days of our lives, we both look back on those last few days with hearts overfilling with love and joy. We had an amazing camping trip with Lil Smokey down in Mankato just days before. It was so much fun watching him explore the fields, climb a huge dirt pile and rail down it like a downhiller, and the single track riding was awesome!!!
In the morning on the day Smokey passed, Jay said it was impossible to leave him. They snuggled and played all morning as Jay resisted going to work. He gave him kisses and told him he loved him and fought the clock for extra time until the last possible minute before reluctantly leaving to open the shop.
When I got home from work that day, Smokey was chillin' on the couch watching music videos. I was beat, so I laid down on the couch and he immediately went to my feet and slept with me. I only needed a catnap to reset my day and was joyfully surprised when Smokey licked my face after a 1/2 hour or so of napping, trying to wake me up. If you've seen me when I'm tired, I'm not the most pleasant person upon waking against my will, but this day was different. It was so sweet to be woken with kisses, and I turned it into a game... hiding my face playfully, and popping up out of the pillow for Smokey to steal a kiss and jump back. His tail waged as he bounced back and forth to give me kisses. It was wonderful.
After our game, we got up and went for a quiet walk around the neighborhood on the most beautiful evening in weeks.. just they day prior, it was 103 degrees and we weren't able to take Smokey outside until sunset because of the heat. But he still had a great time in the pool with the other puppies as we sat outside with all the neighbors and their dogs when the heat & AC overload blew the transformers in the area for a few hours that night.
After our walk, Smokey played on the bed as I folded laundry. He laid on my sweatpants that had just come out of the dryer and wrestled with the balled up socks. When they came unballed, I'll roll 'em up again and toss them into the air for him to play with.... it's those simple delights that mean the most to me, and I'm so glad I got to share each and every moment of those with him.
Life will never be the same thanks to Smokey. Luckily, I have had a wonderful family that has taught me the pleasure of truly unconditional love. When I met my husband, Jay, my heart learned an entirely new type of love, and he's never hesitated to share that love with me every day. And when Smokey entered our lives, we found out what Dr. Seuss meant when he wrote about the Grinch's heart growing '3 sizes that day'... both of us learned how to love a lil monster with every ounce of our being, and enjoy the way he highlighted our life.
Not only did he teach us how to love, but he showed us how much we loved taking care of him. I don't know many people who planned out vacations for their pet's pleasure, but it was so enjoyable planning out camping trips with entertainment we hoped he'd enjoy. In his last few months, we took him to 4 different states, camping and hiking and running around wherever our paws would take us. And all of those adventures, the whole reason we ever got the Scamp, it was all thanks to Smokey, and our love for spending time with him.
I love you lil buddy... I will hold you in my heart forever, and never forget the time we spent snuggling... the lil moans that escaped those lil black lips as you slept... your guy-liner... your cute lil butt... but most of all the way you looked at me. I love you, Lil Smokey! I hope you and Bob are having fun up in heaven. Save a place for me.
Proud to have been loved by Lil Smokey,
Kristy Kreme
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