What a year...

It's been quite a while, but it's time to pour my heart out again.
Mom is doing better.  She isn't cured and never will be, but she is in a steady orbit for now. Dad is .... I don't know what to say.
But, today... I did the hardest, yet most compassionate thing I think I have ever done.  It's tearing my heart out of my chest, but it was the right thing to do.
For the last nearly 15 years, I have had the good fortune of sharing my life with the most beautiful soul I have ever known.  Piper, my dog.
This little Border Terrier picked my heart to get squished into.  And she will be there forever.  However, today, I had to send her to the angels.  God... just writing the words rips me apart.
I am of the belief if they are suffering, it's time to intervene.  I know this, I believe this, but it still FRIGGEN sucks.
She has been with me for so long, I can't imagine life without her.  I miss her so much already. She went everywhere with me.  She had her own luggage.  Yeah, I said it, her own luggage. 
She loved everyone she ever met.  She made everyone she ever met smile.  At times she had wild hair.  At times she could gas you out of the room.  She had a way of communicating and understanding me better than any human I know.   She was my "fur person."
I wasn't there when she came into this world, but by God, I was there when she went out.
Piper, I will love and miss you forever.