December

[jdf]

a dog reminded me of you
at a friend's house last night
the feel of her neck and skull
the innocent trust in amber eyes

a dream was told of a long lost hound
flying down a high green hill
to see a friend then turning to run
back up the hill to heaven

dogs of many colors and form
under the coat are one and the same
with loyal hearts and love filled eyes
high in the hills where angels fly

[Mary Plummer]

jdf, this is so beautiful! My eyes are tearing up a lot; OK, I'm crying. I read this and then stepped outside with Blue, and was blessed to see another rainbow moon. I thought of Roxy then, and my heart and prayers are still going to you and Mrs. jdf.

[Athena's Mom]

I've been waiting for your December poem. This is so beautiful, jdf. Christmas will be very hard so be sure to prepare yourself.

Yesterday my sweet baby Athena had to go to the vet because she swallowed a big piece of rolled up raw hide that she must have buried a long time ago. She will be OK. It was awful sitting and waiting for the results of the Xrays and exam. It felt like how it was all those times waiting in the sterile little examination room for the results of all of Magnum's tests.

This will be the fourth Christmas without Magnum.

[TheSkeptic]

Beautiful. Thanks. ....

[jdf]

I've been waiting for your December poem. This is so beautiful, jdf. Christmas will be very hard so be sure to prepare yourself.

Yesterday my sweet baby Athena had to go to the vet because she swallowed a big piece of rolled up raw hide that she must have buried a long time ago. She will be OK. It was awful sitting and waiting for the results of the Xrays and exam. It felt like how it was all those times waiting in the sterile little examination room for the results of all of Magnum's tests.

This will be the fourth Christmas without Magnum.

The holidays do have a way of bringing sadness when you miss a loved one. We always gave Roxy a Christmas present and I'll always miss the way she waited patiently for dinner while the smell of roasting turkey filled the house.

I know that feeling of waiting for exam results - I will never forget the night when Roxy was struck by the FCE and she looked up at me from the floor of the ER with a look that seemed to be asking me to fix things like she always did when something was wrong. I couldn't fix things that time and it broke my heart. I know how much it broke your heart when you could no longer help Magnum. I can't believe it's been four years, it seems like yesterday.

As we count our blessings this holiday season and remember our dear friends, the most treasured blessing we have is in having known their love.

I'm really glad Athena is okay, give her a Christmas hug from me...Jim

[jdf]

jdf, this is so beautiful! My eyes are tearing up a lot; OK, I'm crying. I read this and then stepped outside with Blue, and was blessed to see another rainbow moon. I thought of Roxy then, and my heart and prayers are still going to you and Mrs. jdf.

Thank you, Mary - Roxy was like a rainbow.

Give Mr. Blue a hug from us and have a Merry Christmas with your good pal...

Jim

[jdf]

Beautiful. Thanks. ....

I know how much you and Cheryl are missing Freckles this holiday season, Skeptic. You both and Freckles are in my heart and prayers.

jim

[E's]

This one got to me even more than the others, Jim - although they are all beautiful [I hope there will be an anthology one can copy?] Yet, as with the others, it is very comforting too... Subjectively, which is to say on a personal level, December is a difficult month for me, especially because I don't think it would be fair of me to damage the joy other people take in the season, so there is a certain amount of subterfuge and/or pretense involved - which works sometimes and sometimes makes things worse...

Briefly: In an eastern suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, condos were being built in a new development only a few blocks from the high-rise apartment where my husband and I lived. We bought one of these condos - it was to be finished in January - and one of the first things we intended to do was to get a dog (hadn't had one since moving from Nebraska several years earlier.) the president of the company my husband was with had a miniature schnauzer - wonderful little dog - and the couple had promised to refer us to the breeder as soon as we were ready...

Things were going well, although the economy was heading toward a minor recession and the Skipper was stressed about having to lay off more people [it was an electronics manufacturing company and foreign manufacturers were even then playing hob with US markets] and his blood pressure was a little high... Then there was this C & W song that year with the theme re a shaky economy: "If we can make it through December ..."

We didn't make it through December, because of a sudden, massive coronary occlusion...

The schnauzer pup that wasn't even whelped then would long since have grown old and gone to the Rainbow Bridge... Thus, it comforts me greatly to think that in the unknowable workings of space and time, the man and the dog have already met and gone up the green hill together... and now I know I will be okay too again this year...

Thank you, Jim, and here's wishing all of us a pleasant Holiday Season!

Dottie B
New Orleans

[Mary Plummer]

E's, Athena's Mom, Skeptic, and jdf - you are all in my thoughts and prayers tonight! E's, thanks for sharing with us; I think your image of your husband and the dog meeting up together is absolutely beautiful! Athena's Mom, my heart knows yours still aches for Magnum, and it probably always will to some degree. As will yours, jdf, for Roxy. Skeptic, I'm also thinking of you and Cheryl missing Freckles this season. I don't know of anything anyone can say that can ease that, but perhaps knowing that you've got friends here who wish they could will help a bit. Knowing the love of all of them was a blessing, taken away too soon...

[oconnorjoy]

jdf...that is so beautiful...it makes my heart ache to once again see my little Nugget. I know you feel the same about your Roxy.