Today marks the end of a matriarch's reign in the Clark household. Due to renal failure, Pepper had to be put to sleep this morning at 9:48AM. Tracy and I were both present and we think we made the right decision to spare her the inevitable pain that would follow. Terriers live a long time and Pepper lived until the ripe old age of 17. No matter what human life span analogy you prefer to use, 17 years is a long long time. All of us can only hope that we have an equally long life.
It's a long enough to span the lives of every one of the Clark children and the effective length of my marriage. Pepper was Tracy's 21st birthday present, which means that Tracy was no more than a kid herself when Pepper joined our household. Pepper has lived with us so long that no one in the house can remember when she wasn't there. She has been a constant in our household for seemingly forever and she will be missed.
Pepper was born in Berlin, Maryland in a Kennel whose named had faded into the recesses of my memory. As I recall, we were there to look at Yorkshire and White West Highland Terriers, and there certainly were plenty of both, but for some reason, a small Cairn Terrier quietly hunkered down in the back of a pen with a sign that said "Toto"on it, caught Tracy's eye. Tracy took her out and the rest is history.
Today has been a very painful one for the Clark Girls. Tracy, Kellie, and Kara have all had their moments today, but time marches on. As we have planned for some time, we plan to inter her in Pembroke NC, somewhere on my parent's property.
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