Thank you

All of the support that you have shown our family this week means so much.  We've received so many calls, texts, emails, comments, and cards.  So many of you have offered your love and support.  It truly touches our hearts to know that Max was loved by so many of our friends and family, too.

I wanted to share a couple of special stories...

Our neighbor, J, is 11.  He and his parents and his baby sister live two doors down.  He mowed our lawn for us while we were gone last weekend, and with everything that happened, BJ and I both forgot to pay him.  I called him after school yesterday and said, "When the storm is over, come down so I can pay you.  I'm so sorry we forgot."

J's mom came down after work and told me that J had asked her if, instead of paying him to mow the lawn, if it would be ok if he asked us to donate the money to the Humane Society in Max's memory, instead.  And his little sister, who is 3, told her mommy that she's going to grow up and be a vet so she can make Max strong and healthy again.

What wonderful kids, and what a lovely family. 

Other friends of ours have also made donations in Max's memory.  It just blows me away.  I've never been on the receiving end of memorial donations, before.  I had no idea how much it would mean to me.  What a beautiful thing to do.


Our vet, Dr. Miller, called me last night to check on us.  We spent 15 minutes on the phone, with her reassuring me that we had done the right thing, that we couldn't have known any earlier that anything was wrong with Max, and that even if we had known, there was nothing we could have done to fix it.  It really helped ease my mind, because I had started to question whether or not we had done the right thing, whether or not it was really painless when we let her be euthanized, and whether or not we missed some sign in the last month or two that something was wrong.  I'd spent a good part of yesterday Googling.  Google is sometimes not my friend.

BJ and I are surrounded by such loving, wonderful, generous people - from our family to our neighbors to our friends and colleagues to the professionals we've chosen to work with our family (teachers, doctors, dentists, vets, insurance agents, accountants...) - we are truly, truly blessed.  Thank you so much for loving us so well.