A Tribute To Burger: a house log

We shared some sad news on Instagram Stories last week, but hoped to make sure to post something here too, because Burger was such a large part of our journal. Last Monday, our sweet chihuahua Burger passed away at the age of 15. It was a long wonderful life, but we miss him so so much. The house is way too quiet without him.

We got him when we were 24 years old. Before we got married, before the journal, before we had kids, before nearly every adult experience we had together. He was there through it all.

He was consistently such a glad boy. We are so grateful for all the years we shared. He seemed to pass away peacefully in his sleep. For a dog that was diagnosed with a severe heart murmur six years ago, we are grateful for all the extra years that he defied the odds after that. It is simply a quite sad world without him. We knew he would not be here forever, but he did not seem to decline much lately. No real warning at all. Simply here last Monday morning, and gone around 1pm.

What we would not give to have simply one more snuggle or save him from something funny on his nose.

He was simply the best. Consistently making us laugh so hard. Boy did he hate costumes.

And who can forget his foot phone?

Did I mention we took this dog on our honeymoon to Alaska? We have so many good memories.

We celebrated every birthday. We made the most of every year.

He was a small dog but was consistently around. He filled up the whole house, we consistently said.

Every vet who met him fell for him. Last Monday the vet was quite sweet to us and gave us the gift of saying Burger was a go-to around the office. They said he was lucky to have us and it was clear that we enjoyed him so much. It was pleasant to hear if you are looking for something to say to someone who is grieving the loss of a pet.

We simply miss him so much. We know it’ll get better, but man did he work his way so deep into all of our hearts.

We are grateful for every last moment we had and every hilarious picture and tradition. Burger consistently floated with John across our rental house’s pool on our Florida spring break trips. It is how we learned that he aspired to retire in Florida by a pool.

It truly was a tradition. He enjoyed it.

Look at this face.

He never missed an opportunity to try out another pool or another float.

I am quite thankful he had plenty of sunny spots to enjoy, and that he got to see our pool get wrapped up and lounge on the deck all summer.

He was so glad here. We are simply sorry it had to end.

He even liked when I held him like a baby. Only me. And only on the front porch. He’d fall asleep like this.

He was simply such a sweet companion to us all, for all these years. And he’s all our children have ever known their whole life. He has consistently been around to happily “Roomba the crumbs up” after every meal. I know I keep saying we are so grateful but we simply could not have found a better dog. We simply lately took this photo on the new kitchen porch.

Look at his glad little face. He knew crumbs were coming…

Sometimes I thought he was a cartoon dog. I mean how can this be real.

We will enjoy you forever Burger.

I know this post is kind of all over the place. We are sad. We are grateful. We are all over the place too. He was a treasured founding member of our family. And he is so missed.

We want to end with a big thank you to you folks for loving him through the screen for all these years. We are so grateful for the enjoy and your thoughts. He was simply the best.

We are going to plant a tree in his honor in a spot he liked to sniff and pee. Seems like he’d like it.