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Kathryn Reiss's avatar

I loved this thoughtful piece, and the image of your little family as an animal pack. That's what families are, all over the world. Packs. Tribes. We've just put our 21 year old cat to sleep this past week--Ancient and Venerable Stanley the Good--after a long goodbye. We were immersed in the soup of constant worry, waiting to discern when it was the 'right' time.

Your piece on worry made me think of the Bible verse I return to often, which Jesus said in his Sermon on the Mount: "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest? (Luke 12:25-26). This resonates with me. So often it is not worry that we should be doing, but just what you were doing with your dog: keeping vigil. keeping company. showing up. sharing space with each other.

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Sue Cauhape's avatar

You two are so much more courageous than I can even imagine. When Buda lay on that vet's table, stabilized by struggling to breathe into his flooded lungs, I couldn't bear taking the option of three months of life for him if I gave him shots every day. Three more months of life, of suffering, of pain, of the prospect that he'd be going through these deaths throes again. For you, though, was a positive outcome at the end of it all. Thank goodness for little Santo. So glad he made it through Hell.

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