We recently lost our Yorkie and best friend, Jazzy. Jazzy was almost 16 years old and was truly a member of the family.
I’ve shared several stories about Jazzy’s comfortable lifestyle and the lack of change in his day compared to ours. CeCe treated him like royalty and they even shared a favorite snack, white cheddar Cheetos. Jazzy often traveled with us to some of his favorite spots in Oxford, Destin or Eagle Lake where he knew his way around and made himself right at home. He had always been independent in that he would do his napping anywhere, but the last six months, we knew his time was close when he wanted to be held or sit/lay right beside you (preferably CeCe, I was more or less his backup plan).
Even though it’s been several weeks since we lost Jazzy, we catch ourselves reminding each other to check on him or saying his name. Our daughter, Haley, just stayed with us for four days with her dog, Henry. We called Henry, Jazzy so much, we may have to send Henry to dog counseling. (Don’t laugh, I’ve seen the advertisements and of course, I hid them from CeCe).
Obviously, we suffer when we lose a loved pet and Jazzy has certainly left a vacuum in our lives. As we worked through our grief and loss, it was the message from our veterinarian that really touched us, and put it into a great perspective. On a picture of Jazzy, they inscribed, “Thanks for everything, I had a wonderful time!”
What an inspirational thought. It inspired me to think about our firm and our sense of belonging. In our companies, we touch peoples lives every day. I recognize that team members will have different seasons with us, some short, some medium and some for their entire career. Each of us needs that sense of belonging to grow to our full potential during our season. When people are having a wonderful time, they tend to stay as long as they can. Jazzy did! I hope we can build a similar legacy for each person that joins our team so when they reflect on their time here, they say “Thanks for everything, I had a wonderful time!”
