[Dailydrool] Merry Christmas to all of my very special Daily Drool family

[Hinchliffe at aol.com]

At holiday times (sorry, "howliday" times), our thoughts turn to family,  
and to gratitude for how we've been blessed.  While I'll be celebrating in  
person with my relatives and friends tomorrow, I'll also be celebrating in  
spirit with all of you, my Daily Drool family, the family of my heart.  I  
will be thinking with thanks and joy of how you have truly blessed my  life.
 
You are wonderful people.   Warm, funny, caring, generous,  loving.  Those 
extraordinary gifts, which you give so freely, extend to  both your 
four-legged and two-legged friends, and I'm lucky to be held in the  embrace of your 
friendship.
 
I can never express enough how much your outpouring of support and  
understanding meant when I lost my two precious babies Duchess and  Blueberry.  You 
were there all through Blueberry's illness,  when she fought so hard.  You 
were with us every step of that brave,  heartbreaking battle.  And then you 
were there for me when she left for the  bridge, and you helped me to 
breathe again when I thought I couldn't; you helped  me to trust that I would get 
through the shattering grief; you helped me to  remember the joy of her 
little life, and not be lost in the darkness of her  loss.
 
And just a couple of months ago you were there for me again, in strength  
and in love, when I was caring for my friend's Emma (Blueberry's Mom), who I 
had  also known and loved since literally the minute she was born in my 
friend's  living room.  Karen was on vacation and Emma was with me when she  
suddenly became catastrophically ill -- you counseled me as to what to do 
(Karen  had said not to call her) when I couldn't think clearly.  And once again  
you swept in like cushioning angels to protect me from the terror when 
sweet  little Emma died in my arms in bed in the middle of the night.
 
Those are the dark times, made bearable by your light.  But there are  
joyous times, too -- the sharing of your stories about silly new puppies, or  
health battles won, or just the daily quirks of our basset babies -- each one  
unique and new, and yet each one so familiar to all of us who love them 
that  they make us smile.
 
What would I do without eagerly scanning the digest every day for updates  
from da Brudder and Elder Clara, the Tailpipe Queen; Nigel & LLewis, Esq.,  
Cnly & Mr. Cooper Sir; and our sweet Bobby, Chick Magnet and King?   What 
would I do without the precious two-legged friends I've made, those  
remarkable mompersons and dadslaves who I've never met but who I feel I know  even 
more deeply than some of the friends I see all year?
 
Fortunately, thanks to the precious gift of The Daily Drool, I don't have  
to imagine.  Thank you all, today and always, just for being there, for  
forming this extraordinary family which -- like any family -- shares the good  
and the bad, the highs and the lows, the rich rhythms of daily life.
 
As you watch the wintry sky for Santa's sleigh tonight, please give all of  
your furbabies an extra hug from their Auntie Beth H., and know that I hold 
all  of you, two- and four-legged, tightly in my heart, my thoughts, and my 
 prayers.
 
With love,
Beth H. (Duchess ATB and Blueberry ATB)
-------------------
For Duchess and Blueberry:  "You have gone ahead and nothing is  the same; 
leaving pawprints on my heart which will always remain." 
 
 
 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.dailydrool.org/pipermail/dailydrool-dailydrool.org/attachments/20091224/c2b13d1b/attachment-0002.htm>