Goodbye, Old Friend

This is one of the hardest things I've ever written. We're saying goodbye to an old friend today. Murphy has not passed away, but she won't be living with us anymore. After months of thought, debate, soul searching, and agony, we've decided the best thing for her would be to live with another family. As she's gotten older, she needs more and more attention on a daily basis. We've found that with our commutes and changes in my job, we are unable to give her the attention that she needs and deserves. Instead of continuing to have her to live in unhappiness for the last few years of her life, we felt that if we could find the right situation for her, we might be willing to let her go.
Sadly/Happily we recently found that situation, and as painful as it is, it's time to let her be a happy dog again. The family that adopted her is a younger couple with two cats and another wonderful corgi that Murphy seems to get along with. They've been in our house and have really fallen in love with her.
It's been 10 years since she came into our lives. Her name was Candy Apple then, and she was a neglected two year old who had lived in a family with lots of other dogs but not much individual time for her. She had several ailments when we got her, including heart worm. She cowered every time I stood up. It was almost two years before we heard her bark.
She has moved with us from Medford to Spokane to Seattle, never once complaining. She welcomed a crazy little cat named Cougar into the fold, showing her all the little tricks that made us laugh.
Murphy certainly wasn't a perfect dog, but she will be missed in our home. The look on her face when we return is always welcoming, and when I'm home by myself the jingling of her collar always makes me feel a little less alone. That silence will be deafening.
It would be selfish of us to ask her to continue living with us, since we aren't able to devote enough time to her. Both of the humans in her new family work at home and go to the dog park at lunch time. It will be painful to let her go, but I know that she will eventually be a much happier dog with her new family. I just hope she can understand that we did it for her.