I made up my mind.....

.... I was not going to cry!!! When I went to the library to borrow "Persuasion", I discovered that it was already checked out! Bummer..... Well I could check out something else to listen to in the car. I know, I wanted to get "Marley and Me" by John Grogan. I found the CD's and stepped into the check out line. As the librarian looked at what I had, she asked if I had read the book. I told her no, but that I had heard it was good. "You better get the tissues out, cause it will make you cry." Well before I even popped the first disc in, I told myself I would not cry. I mean it is a story about a dog..... I can handle that.

So for the last week I have been listening to this story about a big yellow lab named Marley. Today I listened to the last disc. As I put it in the car CD player, I reassured myself, I was NOT going to cry. So I listened. And then it came......... the tears..... big loppy tears. It was not so much the sadness of the story's ending, but the overwhelming memory of my own little puppy. Who turned into a big lovable laggy Airedale dog~! She was my best friend. We had her before we had children. She was my buddy. My friend. Ten years and two children later, she left us. And oh..... what an ache in my heart. Even now as I think of her, the tears well up. How do we fall so in love with these critters and then they leave us!!! My love for her was so deep that I have never been able to have another dog. I felt that I could not do it again. Their life is so short. John Grogan said it well. There are just some animals that you never forget. They have left their imprint on your heart.

"Flowers of true friendship never fade."