Happy Birthday North of the Rainbow Bridge, Dear Harley, Alpha Queen of the FiveSibes

 

“The risk of love is loss, and the price of loss is grief. But the pain of grief is only a shadow when compared with the pain of never risking love.”~Hilary Stanton Zunin

Twenty years. Oh, where to begin...waking up and knowing it was one of our FiveSibes' birthday—Nanuk "Harley" Mari—but, there would be no party, no crazy Sibe shenanigans as they danced, pranced, and wooed their hearts out while eagerly waiting for the signature vanilla ice cream bone-shaped cake to celebrate...hurts. It squeezes my heart to know that they are no longer by my side, and that Harley is not here for her celebration. But, today, on what would be her 20th Birthday, it's bittersweet as I fondly look back over 14.5 years of amazing memories with her...

 

Oh, my FiveSibes were always up for a party!

Harley  - our beloved, tough, fun, sassy, silly, amazing, gorgeous first Husky - ruled the FiveSibes home like a champ that she was! She was a born-leader. And when the Pupsters came along, she instantly took on the role of mama dog, and she was a champion at it.

Harley's favorite games were Tug and Fetch. Wow. I think she always won Tug! And that girl could chase after and fetch a ball until the sun set, and after! Her game was she'd fetch it right away, run toward you as though she was going to drop it for another round, and then - whoosh! - run right by you! I swear I used to hear her giggling as she did! She'd then circle back and do it again, and then just when you were about to give up, she'd run and drop the ball at my feet, sit, and look at me with her gorgeous blues eyes as if to say, "What?"

 

 

 

One time, and I'm not sure how she did it as she was a very petite Husky, but she managed to get three...3...THREE...tennis balls in that little mouth of hers! Yes, I panicked. She ran circles around me...daring me to catch her. Eventually, I did. And she spat out the balls (which I then hid). How? I still don't know.

Time really is a thief. It sneaks in and steals days, years away without us truly noticing.

Today, our beloved queen would have turned 20. TWENTY. I am having a hard time reconciling the two decades that have past since that ridiculously raining day when we drove over an hour to get her. She was my daughter's dream dog, and when we felt she was ready for the commitment, we welcomed baby Harley into our lives, along with our longtime adopted girl, "Chelsey," who by then was a senior dog who spent her days snoozing in sunbeams in my daughter's room. 

When we welcomed four-month old Gibson into the family, he was immediately taken in by Harley's gorgeousness. Yup, my fluffy boy was smitten at first sight! Those two become forever bonded, and I dubbed them our "married couple."

 

Another hard nut to swallow is that Harley has been a furangel now for six years. SIX. (Yes, I'm having a hard time with how fast the passage of time is). She earned her queen wings at home, surrounded by the Pupsters, me, my daughter, and little grandson. She gave one last Harley run, then zooomied her way to the heavens, where Gibson was waiting for her.

The tears still flow. I loved all of our FiveSibes. Gibson was my heart dog. Wolfie was my baby. Bandit was the crazy, wild Husky you always read about and kept us entertained. But Harley, she wasn't mine per se, she was my daughter's, but she was so beautiful, so healthy, so animated, so responsible, and just so much fun. It was so hard to let her go, but she had declined, and her quality of life was no longer there. She was struggling to hide it from us, but couldn't. Her breathing changed. She had her first seizure at 12 (age onsset) and she developed a neurological condition that affected her eyes, and then she began losing fur. At her advanced age (14.5), she quickly went from healthy to having health issues. But I still saw our beautiful feisty girl. Honestly, it took me three tearful calls to our vet that I cancelled, before I finally braved through it at my daughter's request. It was time. The vet agreed. It really was time for our courageous spitfire of girl to rest, and our alpha queen Harley with her Cleopatra makeup of a mask, peacefully left this world, and an ocean of tears behind. But, as my daughter once dubbed her, she truly was "a real badass dog."

Harley style of "You WILL play with me!" 

 

I began this post thinking I'd share a photo and a poem and simply take some time to reflect on our lives with Harley. Yet, somehow, here I am with a longer tribute. I think for her 20th Birthday, it was so well deserved. Thank you all for reading, and for always following us here at FiveSibes. I know many of us have gone through such joys and losses as well, and that's what makes Blogville so great--for the friendship, understanding, and support in good times and sad times.

 

Happy Birthday, north of the Rainbow Bridge, dear Harley. 

I can hear you as you zoomie around up there, kicking up snow under those petite fast paws, running faster than all of the others in our pack. I can see you doing your run, giving a little nose poke to Gib with your "I dare you" grumble to encourage him to chase you. I see you giving a paw poke to the back to the Pupsters, daring them to catch you! I see all of five of you happily running across those forever snowy fields, like you once did across our back yard. I hope they have vanilla ice cream cake up there for you!  

You will forever be loved and missed.

 

 

 Now, I think I'll go have a scoop of ice cream in Harley's memory.

 🩷 Memories Truly Are Visits For Heart 🩷

 I'm joining in the Awww Monday's Blog Hop hosted by Comedy Cats because all times spent with Harley and my FiveSibes were definitely Awwwww moments. Stop by their blog hop to see some more great posts!

 

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