My Baby Girl

Gesellschafterin

1999-2008

February 19, 1999 (Gese pronounced Gay-suh) was born at the house next door. I still remember Simms coming home from work and finding me sitting on the grass with these cute little puppies all around. He knew right then and there that our lives were never going to be the same. He was right. A few short weeks later we welcomed her into our home and hearts.

Why 'Gese'? It's short for Gesellschafterin which means companion in German. She truly became our companion and friend. Loyal and loving. Full of spunk and vigor. Even as an adult dog, she would chase her tail as if she was still a little pup. She was truly a watch dog, announcing the arrival of anyone that dared to approach our front door. She would also keep watch by the bedroom door when I nursed the boys in their infancy. At night she would lay in the upstairs hallway or by the edge of our bed - sleeping peacefully but fully alert at the same time.

Earlier this year we began to see a steady decline in her health and knew that we would have to say good-bye to our baby girl sooner than later. This is hard. Even though I will be able to go a week without vacuuming and the floors may still look clean, even though we won't be awakened in the middle of the night by her whimpers during a thunderstorm, and even though we (mainly Simms) will no longer have to clean up after her when she would get an upset stomach...it is still difficult. Why? Because the place in my heart that this lovable, nutty, loud dog filled cannot be replaced or removed.

Holding on to the memories. That's what I'm doing. Hope you don't mind but that is what I am sharing with you today. A snapshot of our memories of the last 9-1/2 years.

First day at our corner. Gese is in my arms. Her dad, Duke is to the left.

Just like a baby, we cuddled with her and bathed her. Simms did most of the bathing. He has always been a good Daddy.

It was such fun watching her grow and develop - especially when her ears started to perk up. She has always been playful but eventually grew out of these chew toys. They were the big thing while she was teething and helped focus her chewing on them and not other things in the house.

Like babies, she would get sleepy. This is one of my favorite puppy photos. Now when I look at this end table (which is now in our basement) I am amazed that she not only crawled inside of it but that she didn't even fill up all of the space.

You know how all kids have an awkward kind of phase? This was Gese's. She definitely had to grow into those ears!

Unlike Barber, she loved the snow from the very start!

Of course, she fits right in with the family - faithfully rooting for the NY Giants. Like she would want to pick any other team?!?

Time passed and she grew up. No longer a puppy that could curl up into your lap although that didn't stop her Daddy from taking time out of his day to snuggle and play with his little girl.

2001 came and we were blessed with our first son Jeter. He adored Gese. She loved and protected him. As he grew, she looked forward to playing with him too.

We welcomed Barber to our family in 2004 and introduced him to Gese as well. This was 1-1/2 days after he was born. Gese looks like she's thinking "Another one?" That may be so but Barber adored her from the moment he could pet her and hug her and the feeling was overall mutual.

Gese always likes to be a part of the action. Totally a family dog.

This is one of the most recent pictures I have of Gese. More have been taken but not developed yet. It's the end of summer and you can see she is still shedding clumps of hair. Periodically she would allow us to brush her but she sometimes winced in pain. I love this picture because she is happy hanging out with the family.

For many of you, this may be the first time you are seeing my baby girl. Why? Well we quickly became aware of the fact that not everyone loves dogs and a lot of children would be startled by her bark. So she'd hang out in her bed in our room while many of you would visit. Regardless, she has always been an integral part of our family.

I love you Gese and always will.