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"OK, girls, I&amp;#x27;m about to get dark for a second. I don&amp;#x27;t know if any of you have ever had to put a pet down before. But if you have, then you, like me, know that it will forever rank among the top five emotional sucker-punch moments of your life. Which is exactly why Sarah Silverman&amp;#x27;s beautifully written tribute to her dog, Duck, who just passed away at the age of 19, just made its way into my top hundred or so emotional sucker-punch moments. You&amp;#x27;ll need the tissues while reading this, and you&amp;#x27;ll want to go ahead and pet your dog afterward. (If you don&amp;#x27;t have a dog, pet someone else&amp;#x27;s&amp;amp;#8212;even a stranger&amp;#x27;s on the street will do. If they give you any lip, just hand them your phone and have them read this, and they&amp;#x27;ll forget why they were mad at you/where they were even going in the first place.) &amp;quot;Duck &amp;#x27;Doug&amp;#x27; Silverman came into my life about 14 years ago. He was picked up by the State running through South Central with no collar, tags or chip. Nobody claimed or adopted him so a no-kill shelter took him in. That&amp;amp;#8217;s where I found him&amp;amp;#8212;at that shelter, in Van Nuys. Since then we have slept most every night together (and many lazy afternoons.) When we first met, the vet approximated his age at 5&amp;amp;#8212;so I&amp;amp;#8217;d say he was about 19 as of yesterday, September 3, 2013. He was a happy dog, though serene. And stoic. And he loved love. Over the past few years he became blind, deaf, and arthritic. But with a great vet, good meds, and a first rate seeing-eye person named me, he truly seemed comfortable. Recently, however, he stopped eating or drinking. He was skin and bones and so weak. I couldn&amp;amp;#8217;t figure out this hunger strike. Duck had never been political before. And then, over the weekend, I knew. It was time to let him go. My boyfriend Kyle flew in late last night and took the day off from work to be with us. We laid in bed and massaged his tiny body, as we love to do&amp;amp;#8212;hearing his little &amp;amp;#8220;I&amp;amp;#8217;m in heaven&amp;amp;#8221; breaths. The doctor came and Kyle, my sister, Laura and I laid on the bed. I held him close - in our usual spoon position and stroked him. I told him how loved he was, and thanked him for giving me such happiness and for his unwavering companionship and love. The doctor gave him a shot and he fell asleep, and then another that was basically an overdose of sleeping meds. I held him and kissed him and whispered to him well passed his passing. I picked him up and his body was limp&amp;amp;#8212;you don&amp;amp;#8217;t think about the head&amp;amp;#8212;it just falls. I held him so tight. And then finally, when his body lost its heat, and I could sense the doctor thinking about the imminent rush hour traffic, I handed him over. 14 years. My longest relationship. My only experience of maternal love. My constant companion. My best friend. Duck.&amp;quot; RIP, Duck. The rest of us can go ahead home now. Photo: Twitter"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.glamour.com/entertainment/blogs/obsessed/2013/09/read-sarah-silvermans-big-cry->