~Cody~
Cody came to us on the 3rd Jan 2005, at about a year old; from a breeder keen to get rid of him-he already had two previous owners, both who had returned him.
From the look of him, covered in a thick layer of dried on mud and goodness knows what else, he had been kept in some kind of outside cage.
He didn’t even know his given name.
Of course we could never say no, so he was welcomed into our home.
Three baths later he was a lovely shiny black and white and it was time to find him a good name~he chose it himself really. Keith said 'Cody', a character in 'American Chopper' and out of the few names we had tried it was the only one he, Cody, responded to, so Cody he became.
~*We soon found out what a true character he was*~
He was, and remained to the end, a collector, a helper…anything within reach and of the right size was fair game…tea towels, socks, bits of paper, sandpaper, coal, small logs, plant pots, gardening tools…one day I found him looking a little sheepish and trying to sneak indoors, when I got closer I found that the chirping noise I had been hearing was coming from inside his mouth! I held out my hand and into it he dropped a tiny, baby sparrow that had fallen from its nest in the eves of our porch. There was not a mark on it.
From the beginning Cody was truly loving, if a little insecure-he would never stay in a room alone if one of us were somewhere nearby and always wanted to be as close to us as he possibly could.
Our 'thing' has always been camping and Cody settled into our camping life and was soon loved by all our camping friends-to the extent that one friend, Graham, would make two breakfasts on camp, one for him and one for Cody-a slice of bacon and a bowl of tea.
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Since we had to let him go over the Rainbow Bridge we have had a non-stop e-mails, phone calls, texts and messages-little Cody loved everyone and touched so many lives in his own short life and was loved by so many in return.
He has been gone from us for just over two days now and the hurt and loss and grief had not diminished in any way.
We both start and end the day in tears and tears fill odd gaps during the day and night, with any little thing setting us off and the small moments we had with him at the end have become such treasured memories
~playing with his Christmas toys and collecting the post
~our last snowy walks together
~his last moments in our snowy garden ~ he was standing and wagging his tail in the hope of another walk
~a cuddle with dad on the sofa
~on his last drive to the vet, sitting on the back seat he turned his head and rested his nose against my mouth, giving me what we always called a 'seal kiss'
~his little face and tail still wagging as we left him, giving him a tickle under his chin-his eyes were bright and he looked as if he were saying 'hurry back soon to take me home'
~on our return to the vets, although he was sedated, he was alert enough to know that we were there with him, his eyes moving from each of us constantly
***It is a comfort to know that during his last moments he was comfortable and at peace and he fell asleep with us holding him close and telling him how very much we loved him***
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No matter how many years will pass Cody will forever be in our hearts and souls and we know his little spirit will be with us, wherever we may be~his eyes bright and his tail wagging, waiting for our next adventure.
Sleep well our beautiful boy
We love you Cody