Ellie Mullins, the Best Little Girl Ever 7-1-2007 to 11-25-2012

by Tish Mullins
(Noblesville, Indiana, USA)

Ellie girl, Ellie-belly, Emma, Eleanor (when you were being naughty), all the names we had for you, weren't big enough to express your personality. You were our little Shih Tzu girl. You were your daddy's #1 napping buddy.

We brought you home as a little sister for your big brother Trouble, and he absolutely adores you, but it was our hearts that you melted. You were the most stubborn little thing I had ever met. You were so silly! You had the biggest, most soulful eyes I had ever seen. It was impossible to stay mad at you!

You loved your daddy so much. I knew if you came to sit with me or take a nap with me, it was only because your daddy wasn't available. I know you loved me too, but you were, without a doubt, daddy's girl.

I love how you would lick the glass front door, silly girl. I always made you stop, because then I had to clean it. You didn't care, you would just go do something else, or take a nap. I loved the way you always ran out to greet us when we got home, like you were sure we were never coming back. I love your big floppy bunny feet. I love how you snort and snore. I love your crooked little nose, and your tiny snaggle-toothed grin.

Baby, we didn't know you were so sick. We didn't know that your snorting and refluxing was such a big deal, it just made you who you were to us. The vets didn't know either. I saw your x-rays that showed your enlarged heart, and your poor little lung with pneumonia, and my heart broke. I knew we couldn't fix you. I knew we had to let you go, and we didn't want to, we weren't ready to lose you, but we knew we had to set you free.

Daddy kissed your little head and said goodbye, told you he loved you, and couldn't stay. He couldn't watch you slip away from him. I held you so tight in your blanket, and kissed your head, and told you I love you so much. I said a prayer that God would welcome you into his loving arms, that you were such a good girl. Then you fell asleep and laid your head on my chest. And then I could feel your little heart beating no more.

That was the worst day of my life. We brought you home so that big brother Trouble could say goodbye to you. He sniffed you and licked your tiny face. He knew. We buried you in the backyard, and in the spring, Daddy's going to plant a beautiful flowerbed on your grave, and he's going to plant you a tree there and put in a little night light.

Mommy & daddy and Katie & Nick are going to make you a little memorial stone for your grave too. Please come and visit us soon baby girl, in our dreams or anytime you can. When our time here is done, I know that you will run to meet us as we enter heaven.

Until we meet again Angel Puppy, all our love, Mommy & Daddy. You touched our souls, baby girl.