When to make that call.......

Last week we lost our dearly beloved pet poodle, Peaches.  She was the light of our lives. We got her when she was only three months old.  She was thirteen years old last March.

How do you know when it’s time to euthanize your beloved pet?  How can you be sure that tomorrow she or he won’t be right back to the normal routine?   Oh,  how I agonized over that question.    Each situation is bound to be different and everyone has their own set of circumstances to guide them.  But for me, I asked myself over and over, was Peaches living the life she would want to live.

 I looked at how she could no longer run and jump up on the sofa or chair because of the arthritis in her back legs.  She struggled to get up from lying down.  I looked at how she could jump down from the bed and her little legs would give away and she would crumble in pain and struggle to get up off the floor.  Then she couldn’t get back up on the bed,  and would lie silently at the foot of our bed until we picked her up.  I looked at how when she went potty on her little pads, her little back legs couldn’t support her any longer and she would wet herself and she didn’t like that.   She couldn’t chase her ball anymore.  She couldn’t jump up for her treats.  She coughed a lot.  She started having seizures when she was six years old.  She had at least one seizure a month and sometimes more.  She was on three different medications.  Her liver enzymes were extraordinarily high.  Her stomach was bloated and her day consisted of eating and sleeping.  Nothing more.  Not very much fun for our beautiful Peaches who always was running to get her squeaky ball to play, especially when we walked in the door. 

And yet, was it time?  Should we make that call?  She looked up at us with such loving eyes.  She held on to us with her little legs just like she always did….Will she know?   Does she suspect something….?  What to do…..?  After much prayer and consideration, I came to the conclusion that just because she was breathing, she wasn’t living and if I were in her shoes, I would want to be held in the arms of someone who loved me, and gently and painlessly sent on my way to heaven.    And that is what I did and how it was. 

The loss of a pet is not unlike losing a family member.  You grieve deeply.   Grief for some is obvious.  There are tears and visible behavior which leaves no doubt about ones feelings of sorrow.  And then there is hidden grief.  Grief that is so intense and private that it is lies deep inside your being and can cause anguish and misery unlike anything anyone on the outside could possible know.   Sometimes, people feel both kinds of grief.  Sometimes they feel one or the other.  How they express grief doesn’t matter.  Grief is unhappiness in your soul. It hurts.

 Rest in peace my sweet little Peaches.  You gave us so much unconditional  love and joy and ple

asure!  I loved you so much.

     

PEOPLE WATCHING

I love to watch people when they don’t know that I’m watching them.  I don’t mean that I’m spying on them or anything like that.  I mean watching them at odd moments in time.  Like standing in line at the grocery store or maybe while I’m waiting at a red light.  It’s amazing what you might see!  And if only I could read lips!  Now that would really be neat! 

I remember when I used to sing in the choir, I would watch people in the congregation.  I couldn’t hear a word that the preacher was saying anyway because of my hearing loss, so I might as well amuse myself doing something during the sermon, so I would gaze at the people row by row and look at the expressions on their faces.   Oh, what a sight!  I often wondered if the people actually were trying to look so funny or it was just happenstance.  There would be those with their arms crossed like they was no way you were going to convince them of anything and their faces were just as determined.  Then those who were smiling like angels.  And of course, there would be the ones dozing with their chins on their chests or up in the air with mouths wide open.  I could spot them all and knew which ones would do which.    Some would be scoping out the crowd.  Checking on who was wearing what and who was with who.  It’s a great way to pass the time when you can’t hear in church.

Here's another great people watching place.  We have all seen the Walmart pictures circling the internet.  Well, they are pretty much for real.   Stand in line and look around you if you don’t believe it.  Then mosey on over to the local Dollar Store.  Nothing wrong with these folks.  They just march to different drums.  That's ok.

Then, there’s people watching in airports.  You get to see all kinds of folks there.  But then, we’re all different in some form or another to somebody else so I guess I probably looked equally as weird to some of them.  But, nevertheless, it’s a great way to spend an hour or two waiting for a plane to land just looking at people and how they sit, stand, squirm, twist, pick at their ears, noses, etc.  And the way they dress is always a hoot.  You can see some real Prada!

I got to thinking, if I’m watching folks and enjoying it so much, there just might be somebody out there watching me (God forbid) and I better try and clean up my act.  I need to watch my facial expressions and how I react to certain situations and probably smile a whole lot more when I’m in church and at the traffic light and Walmart.  Maybe even the airport.  Who knows, there just might be somebody important watching!