We broke the news to MBD tonight.  Tears all around but good memories as well.  Thanks to friends and family that held back while MBD got through her final exams this month.  I have restored my original post from 7-Nov-2013.

Rest easy, old girl. Your impact on our family and my parents cannot possibly be measured. Passionate loyalty, good manners, sincere empathy, laughable goofiness, and the gift of taking pleasure in the simple things. Things like a romp in the snow, a car ride to the drive-up pharmacy where they give out dog treats, or chasing the wildlife in Pennsylvania with my dad. Where would our daughter have been without Emma sleeping by her bed every night, protecting her for all those years in Knoxville? I’ll remember all those times you hung out with me in my home office, lying under the desk at my feet while I worked. There is a hole in the universe today, caused by your departure to the inevitable after 11 good years. We have no choice but to move onward, but the world seems a bit empty today with you gone.