It never seems real. Not when it’s fresh. At the time of this writing, we are heartbroken, ugly crying and feeling the crushing weight of the loss of one of our beloved family members. Roxy was an amazing part of our family, right from the start. The moment she laid eyes on Kaden, she knew that she had found her forever home with him. She was 10 months old, living in unfavorable conditions in a foster home when we found her. She walked right up to Kaden, gave him a small lick on his little 2 year old nose, and that was that. We took her home and let her become what she was always meant to be. A cherished member of a forever family.
When we first brought her home, I wasn’t ready for her. We had just put our two dogs of 6 years down and I was reeling under the crushing weight of why we had to put them down. It was very traumatic. I thank God that I had a wonderful community surrounding me at that time. I never would have made it without them. I actually started out resenting Roxy. I felt like she was a “replacement” for something that couldn’t be replaced. But over time, she grew on me. She knew when I wanted her to go way, she was always really good at reading people. She knew when I was sad, she would just come and quietly sit by my side. She knew when I was happy and she had this excited bark/howl that she would let out as she would jump from side to side or dash out after me.
She was a wonderful trail dog. She would run along with us as we would go on mountain bike rides, miles long hikes and not once did she ever waver. Not once. I even took her on an 11 mile mountain bike trail that was diverse in its terrain, which tore up her paw pads pretty badly. I carried her everywhere for the next 4 days. Not once did she whimper or whine, but I felt like the worst pet parent EVER.
To say she’s lived an adventurous life would be an understatement. How many people can say they took their dog canyoneering? We can. How many people can say they’ve traveled to 9 different countries and almost all 50 states with their dog? We can. She’s climbed volcanoes, hiked sacred craters, chased mountain bikes and snowboards. She’s kayaked, surfed and paddle boarded. She’s scaled walls to get to the top of waterfalls. The only things she never did that we have, is get on an airplane and zipline. Those, I felt, were always too stressful for her.
As she and Kaden grew up together, the bond between them only got stronger. She started out sleeping with him every night. She would stay by his side on our walks or hikes. When Kaden would be sad, she was always a source of comfort for him. She was his emotional support, his rock, if you will. Now that she is gone, Kaden feels as if he’s “lost his whole heart” not just a part of it. I imagine how hard it must be to lose a sibling and I would never intend to downplay the loss of a human life, but since this is the closest thing he’s got to one, I think it might come close. They never fought, they never got mad at each other. They always loved, cared for and looked out for each other. This has left us with an enormous hole in each of our hearts. We thought we lost her once already and that was horrible enough, just the thought. Kaden nearly lost it then. We were in Guatemala over Christmas 2019 and we were getting ready to take her out for a walk in the neighborhood. We had opened the door as we were putting her leash on and fireworks started flying and she freaked out. She managed to run out of the house just before we were able to get her leash on. We searched for 6 hours, asking all the people in the neighborhood if they had seen her. Someone said they saw her run across the highway. We scoured the entire area before finding her hiding in someone’s vacant lot on the opposite side of the highway than us. She had been hit by a car and had a few injuries. We had taken her to the emergency vet in Guatemala City on Christmas day where they kept her overnight and gave her fluids. We had x-rays done (No broken bones) and blood work taken. All was clear. She came home and fully recovered.
Wherever Kaden was, she was never far behind. When we decided to pack up and travel the world with her, she was more than happy to get in the vehicle. She didn’t care where we were going, as long as we all went together.
Roxy knew she had a job to do, from the moment she met him. She did it faithfully and unwavering until the day we said good bye.
Fly high sweet girl. We love and miss you dearly.