So it has been a few months . . . .

 . . . to say the least.  I have been very busy lately.  Not the best excuse but it is all I have.  It must be something about this time of year I start thinking about mortality.  It could be because of all those I have lost in my life, for the most part, have gone in Spring.  True to form soon after I wrote I Don't Know Why I Can't Help Myself we had to say good-bye to our cat Moe.  He was handicapped and because of this he had a urinary blockage and we didn't catch it in time.  It was very difficult for us, especially me, because I knew something was wrong but I thought it wasn't as bad as it was.  I put off taking him to the vet just one day and I can't help but think it would have made the difference.  The vet said as much.  It was very hard for me to watch him go.

To continue the cheer fest about three weeks ago we had to say good-bye to our puppy Sylvia.  And I don't use the term "puppy" as in a term of endearment.  She was just a year old.  Her kidneys failed.  What made this even more difficult was the fact that she was such a good dog.  Again, I'm not saying this as bias.  While there is some as she was my dog I can honestly say she was the best dog I have ever had.  The vet was crying as she pushed in the poison because she had come to love this dog (through multiple hospitalizations Sylvia was forced to endure due to her condition).  I'm still having a hard time with it.

I know, she was just a dog.  But she was my dog.  When I would come home she would jump in my lap and climb up behind my head, and after licking the back of my head for what seemed like an hour, she would put her head on my shoulder and fall asleep while I watched TV or played a video game.  I miss that.  I miss her putting her paws up on our bed because she wanted help up.  (Then later the same day she would jump from the floor behind the couch directly to the back of the couch like it was nothing.)  And most of all I'm going to miss dancing with her.  I would pick her up and hold her while I would sway.  It was how I would get her to sleep when she was really little.  I could still do it up until the end.

Just a dog.  My dog . . . .