We got Rumer in April, 1993 when she was six weeks old and eight pounds. She was a mutual anniversary gift. I named her Rumer after Demi Moore's kid, yeah, shallow, but it was a unique name. I never knew another Rumer other than mine and Demi's. When she first came home to us, she wouldn't eat so my husband would sit on the floor and hand feed her. I knew then that he would make a great father, even if I didn't want children. Rumer was my child; the surrogate child for the woman who never, ever wanted kids. Turned out the future had different plans for us, but hey. When we lived in Birmingham and later Fairfax, Virginia, Rumer's best friend was our best friends' dog, Nikita. Nikita was a Siberian Husky and very beautiful and we all got a lot of joy watching the two of them play to the point of exhaustion.Rumer was supposedly a registered German Shepherd and we paid a breeder in Jasper, Alabama $200 for her. Quite obviously, she is not 100% GSD, but she had all the traits that make the breed so popular. She was powerful, loyal, loving, defensive of her home and her people and just an all around great dog. She didn't like kids, but like I said, we weren't planning on any so that was ok, too. When we did have our kid, Rumer accepted him into the pack from the first day he came home. I have pictures of me sitting in our oversized chair, cradling my baby, with Rumer practically wrapped around my shoulders looking down at him, too. I have lots of pictures of the two of them laying nose to nose on the carpet, too. She never so much as looked at him funny. She loved him and defended him from the beginning. When Luke came along, she accepted him as well and they became best buds.
Rumer lived a great 14.5 years - that's really old for a shepherd and she had great quality of life until about the last week or so. Letting her go was the hardest thing I've ever done, even harder than Luke, I think. We had her twice as long and she was a link to the person I was before I was "mom", maybe the link to what I think of as my truest self.
The grief of losing two devoted companions in such a short time is sometimes overwhelming. It feels like being knocked over by a giant wave and pummeled at the bottom of the sea until you aren't sure you're going to come back up. But you do; you break daylight and swim like hell for shore. Some days you make it to shore and it's good. Sometimes you make it and you just lay there exhausted by the effort. Sometimes you get knocked over again right away and dragged back down to the bottom. I know it will get better with time, but right now that wave keeps coming and sometimes it's so hard it literally knocks the breath out of me. I almost had to run out of the grocery store this afternoon because of some stupid song playing on the store system. But I bulled through it.
We are starting over again. Having Lucky dropped in our laps was a good thing, I think. We knew we wanted a companion for him so we have already adopted another dog. These guys in no way replace the beloved Rumer and Luke. They are just the next generation. Two good dogs who needed good homes and love and we have both, so now they are becoming part of our family. I know Rumer and Luke approve. I know that Rumer has introduced Nikita and Luke and they are all playing and running and doing everything they love to do but couldn't do on earth anymore.
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