Yesterday I said goodbye to my long time friend, confidant, and traveling companion Coe, my black lab mutt for the last 15 years.

Back in ’97 my friend Darren went for a run in the country roads of Altamont area and came across a puppy in the woods that wanted to follow him. Darren kicked her & told her to go back wherever she came from, but she didn’t listen she just followed along. She made her way to camp where everyone fell in love with her. I tried not to mess with her because I knew what would happen. Well, it happened anyways. At the end of our weekend I had gone to get some flea & tick wash (bathing her in a wheelbarrow), fed her some food and had her riding shotgun with me back to Tuscaloosa.

I named her Coe (Co-ee) spelled after my friend Mike Coe, who had been murdered the prior year. Mike was a great friend to me & I wanted to remember him. Little did I know I was putting in his place my closest friend for the next half of my life.

On the way home to Tuscaloosa she threw-up (which was a trend she would keep up for a year or two of travels) looked at me with an “I’m sorry” look and continued on. She was Shawn & mine’s first dog (outside of dogs living with my parents). We had a fun time in Tuscaloosa teaching her to catch frisbee’s and sticks. She taught us how to un-stuff anything that was plush. She also showed up how to take the tops off of coke bottles, rather impressive.

Fast forward to today. Coe & I have been all over, camping, hikes, football road trips, epic east coast road trips, summer missions camps, getting lost many times, chasing many squirrels, 5 different homes, a few girlfriends, a courtship & marriage, a new child and many many friends of the 2 & 4 legged kind over the years. She has been with me through a whole lot of life.

In the last few years she began to develop tumors all through her body. We knew this day would come eventually because of our decision to not intervene in hopes of making it better, but chancing that an end could come sooner. She took a downturn over the past weekend. She was unable to get up the steps from outside (something she’d had trouble with for some time) but more than that she wasn’t eating much. She became really weak. We knew time was short & weep constantly this week. I gave her a bath Wednesday evening and placed her on a soft ‘crimson tide’ blanket my mom made for our two dogs a few years back. She passed away the next afternoon on the blanket.

It’s tough to as Brooks has taken to love Coe. He was pulling on the gate to the outside yesterday calling for her over and over again. She was laying passed away in the kitchen while I was in tears standing next to her. Today he was looking out the bedroom window that looks over the backyard calling for her. “She’s not there buddy..”

I’m having her cremated so that I can keep her with us. It’d be weird to keep her with us without doing the cremation process. I’m emotional, but not ready to go the weird guy spot yet. But, I’m going to miss my friend.

Coe, you were the best dog a young man could ever have. Thank you for sharing your life so generously with me.

Created a little Coe Richardson photo set that I’ll be adding some old photos to in the coming weeks & months.