It's so hard to lose pets.  They become such a part of our lives.  
However, as much as I love the cats, I don't know how much money I can
toss their way.  Right now, I'm hitting the penny jar, cuz I emptied
both checking and savings accounts to pay the vet bills.  Your story
about Chelsea is touching.  You did your best for that dog, and you knew
when it was time to let her go.  Obviously she meant the world to you.  
My cats are young, and their illnesses can be fought, but they are
lifetime illnesses, and I'm so tapped out right now.  I'll just keep on
as long as I can.

Zuki, my dog, however, is a different story.  I'd rob a bank for her.

Oh Harv,

such a heart breaking story. My heart went out to you big time. I could feel
your pain.

You are a good man Harv doing that for your doggie family.

I know how you feel, Harv. When I had to put my beloved sheltie to
sleep, a friend sent me this. I hope it helps you the way it helped me.

Living Love

If you ever love an animal, there are three days in your life you will
always remember...

The first is a day, blessed with happiness, when you bring home your
young new friend. You may have spent weeks deciding on a breed. You may
have asked numerous opinions of many vets, or done long research in
finding a breeder. Or, perhaps in a fleeting moment, you may have just
chosen that silly looking mutt in a shelter - simple because something
in its eyes reached your heart. But when you bring that chosen pet home,
and watch it explore, and claim its special place in your hall or front
room - and when you feel it brush against you for the first time - it
instills a feeling of pure love you will carry with you through the many
years to come.

The second day will occur eight or nine or ten years later. It will be a
day like any other. Routine and unexceptional. But, for a surprising
instant, you will look at your longtime friend and see age where you
once saw youth. You will see slow deliberate steps where you once saw
energy. And you will see sleep where you once saw activity. So you will
begin to adjust your friend's diet - and you may add a pill or two to
his food. And you may feel a growing fear deep within yourself, which
bodes of a coming emptiness. And you will feel this uneasy feeling, on
and off, until the third day finally arrives.

And on this day - if your friend and God have not decided for you, then
you will be faced with making a decision of your own - on behalf of your
lifelong friend, and with the guidance of your own deepest Spirit. But
whichever way your friend eventually leaves you - you will feel as alone
as a single star in the dark night.

If you are wise, you will let the tears flow as freely and as often as
they must. And if you are typical, you will find that not many in your
circle of family or friends will be able to understand your grief, or
comfort you.

But if you are true to the love of the pet you cherished through the
many joy-filled years, you may find that a soul - a bit smaller in size
than your own - seems to walk with you, at times, during the lonely days
to come.

And at moments when you least expect anything out of the ordinary to
happen, you may feel something brush against your leg - very very lightly.

And looking down at the place where your dear, perhaps dearest, friend
used to lay - you will remember those three significant days. The memory
will most likely be painful, and leave an ache in your heart - As time
passes the ache will come and go as it has a life of its own. You will
both reject it and embrace it, and it may confuse you. If you reject it,
it will depress you. If you embrace it, it will deepen you. Either way,
it will still be an ache.

But there will be, I assure you, a fourth day when - along with the
memory of your pet - and piercing through the heaviness in your heart -
there will come a realization that belongs only to you. It will be as
unique and strong as our relationship with each animal we have loved,
and lost. This realization takes the form of a Living Love - like the
heavenly scent of a rose that remains after the petals have wilted, this
Love will remain and grow - and be there for us to remember. It is a
love we have earned. It is the legacy our pets leave us when they go.
And it is a gift we may keep with us as long as we live. It is a Love
which is ours alone. And until we ourselves leave, perhaps to join our
Beloved Pets - it is a Love that we will always possess.

Written by Martin Scot Kosins,
Author of "Maya's First Rose"

Thanks, Gwen. I have two cameras I'll be using. I dusted them off today,
and had to re-familiarize myself with how they operate.  Tomorrow is the
wedding.  My Nikon will sit on the tripod, and the Olympus will be for
running around shooting.  Between the two cameras, I've gotta get a few
good shots.  

Boy do I miss the Panasonic, though.  That's a helluva camera.