On Friday evening, June 29, we said goodbye to Gladys.

Our beloved Gladys, mother to Babe. Both part of our family for a long time.

Sally remembers clearly when Gladys was born, and then when she gave birth to Babe some three years later.

It was in ’04 when Sally’s father decided not to raise any more cows and to get out of the endeavor altogether.

Rather than see mother and daughter sold off, she told her father we wanted to buy them. And this we did.

We put up fencing all around the two fields on each side of us, and behind, and thus had a “cow corridor” directly behind our house connecting the “north forty” to the “south forty.”

And yes, we had a small barn built. A “Cow Condo.” Our ladies took to it immediately.

So, over the ensuing years we took care of our girls, and wouldn’t trade the experience for anything. Just seeing them, almost always together, in the pastures grazing, reclining in the shade on hot days, knowing these two beautiful bovines were not going to end up on anyone’s dinner table, gave us great satisfaction.

Babe is going to miss her momma. In Gladys’ last hours before the vet came, Babe knew something was amiss. She stayed close by.

We are going to miss her too.

All creatures great and small. And God made them all.

Sally made a wreath with a white ribbon and bow on it to hang above the entrance to the “condo.”

Katie, Sally’s niece, dropped off a very sweet note of sympathy, where she wrote, “I’m so sorry. On to greener pastures.”

And that’s where we like to think Gladys has gone — on to greener pastures.

Note — This is written the day following our loss, and right after we buried our momma cow, which was so ably done by our friends Bobby and Doug, to whom we are so very grateful.