Goodbye Jazzy.

We're sad to say that Gram's and PawPaw's giant Shelty went to that big dog park in the sky tonight. Jazzy has been in the family longer than mama and has had a bad couple weeks that led up to the decision to end her misery.

Though mama isn't known for her fondness for dogs, their relationship simmered from the explosive day in the summer of 2004 when she threatened to throw a very energetic, always-barking Jazz into traffic, into a quiet respect that mama has with old dogs that lay on her feet and keep them warm.

And there was no better dog to keep three kids in line. Jazzy was very patient with all the grandkids, even when they pushed, pulled hair, and tackled her when she was sore with arthritis. She spent her final years making sure that someone had a eye on the babies.

We told Henry that Jazzy wouldn't be around when we went home to Gram's house. Luckily for us, he is very into dinosaurs and has become used to the idea that all animals must die sometime. Mostly, he was interested that someday, someone might run across the fossils of an old dog had a good ten years with the Coopers.