Summer time and closure

I figure I need to write to have a bit of closure from our summer.  

I know I have said it before, probably a thousand times how busy we are as a family.  Between baseball, Irish dance, Seann coaching, play dates, birthday parties and day to day stuff I often don't know if I am coming or going.  Throw in the fact that we started the summer with two puppies and well...crazy town.

Unfortunately, we closed out the summer with only one pup, Ninja.

We had a tragic event that ripped Chance from our lives and taught the kids a lesson about dogs.  Some dogs are good, some dogs are bad...we met a "bad dog".  But I really don't think it is fair to call her bad...she is a dog.  Her name is "Tiny" and she is a pit bull who happened to escape her yard.  She was out exploring the neighborhood when we got home from the store.  Chance and Ninja came out to greet us with Seann.  Unfortunately, Colin and Meghan were out of the car and watched her attack Chance.  I am eternally grateful Caitlyn was still in her car seat, otherwise she may have been holding Chance when it happened.  The attack lasted for what felt like forever.  Seann and I went on the defense. I sat on the dog and Seann started hitting and kicking the dog.  Colin and Meghan were screaming the whole time.  Our neighbor Jeff heard the kids and came running over.  With his helping Seann, I was able to take Colin and Meghan into the house and call the police.  It was twenty minutes before I could remove Chance from the dogs mouth and another twenty before the police arrived.  The whole time Seann and Jeff held the dog down, waiting. The dog was taken away and we wrote our statements.  We will be served, we will have to go to court, we will have to work through the grief with our children, we will have to find comfort and safety at our home again, we will have to bury Chance, we will have to tell everyone, we will have to live with this the rest of our lives. To top off the whole tragedy Seann walked away with a broken hand.  His first ever broken bone at 35!  He had to have a pin inserted/removed, he had a fiberglass splint the rest of the summer, but he is whole again and healed.

We have amazing family and friends.  We buried Chance at a dear friends farm.  The kids can go and talk to him anytime.  The kids have really dealt with their feelings about the whole incident.  They miss Chance and talk openly when they feel moved to.  Sometimes it catches me off guard and I tear up but our feelings are real and my kids know how I feel.  I am OK with that.

The court labeled Tiny a "dangerous animal".  That means only her owner can walk her, with a muzzle and the title will go with her even if she moves.  She still lives across the street.  The kids are cautious but no longer as scared.  Unfortunately the days of the kids playing in the front yard without an adult are pretty much over. Which is hard when Colin loves to throw the ball against the fence to practice pitching and Caitlyn has learned to open all the doors.

This was a really hard summer and we are still healing as a family but each day is getting easier.  So we are looking to all the change we have had and hoping it is all for the better.  Pray we made the right choices, please.