The Rainbow Bridge

Chelsea
12/1995-1/16/2009

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.

When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge.
There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together.
There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by.
The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.

They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent; His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....

Author unknown...

Left out. Left behind...

That's how I'm feeling these days. I was looking through pictures on Facebook and saw a picture of two little girls laughing and having a great time over Christmas. You're probably thinking that's not very interesting, or different. Well, the two little girls are the children of two BFF's from high school and I got to thinking that when and if I ever do get to have children, all of my friend's children will have already outgrown mine.

My paw paw

First, I'd like to thank you all for keeping my family and me in your thoughts and prayers.
The surgery was a little more than three hours and was incredibly intense. They removed his colon and did an ileostomy, and also removed his spleen and gall bladder. His bowel was perforated and his entire belly was pretty much full of blood, and many other "secretions" (I'll keep it at that for those of you with weak stomachs). They've inserted a feeding tube directly into his small intestine and will begin using that in a couple of days to provide nutrition. They are using a "wound vac" to minimize the risk of infection. During the procedure, they went through 4 units of whole blood, 20 units of platelets and 4 units of fresh frozen plasma. This is in addition to the 7 units of whole blood and 4 units of platelets they used yesterday. He's till not out of the woods, as the risk of infection is really high. At this point, the Dr's believe this was caused by vascular disease and/or atrial fibrillation.
Thanks again.

I'm not really in a writing place

but it's been a while.

So, Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you all have a great day!

Two years.

I feel like poo

and really don't feel like posting, but there are a couple of things of importance that I would like to address.
First, Stand Up To Cancer is on this evening, on all three major networks at 7:00 pm CT. I urge you to watch it, and to donate if you can.
Second, BTHO Melanoma is on Sunday the 14th from 10:30-3:30. I BEG you to attend. There are a lot of great items in the silent auction, there will be GREAT BBQ, lots of stuff for the kids to do, and skin cancer screenings (in a nice, private, air conditioned tent. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE try to join us. It would mean a lot to me!

The view.

This is what I saw when I heard, "He's dead."

I was driving home from a weekend in Dallas, a great weekend actually. That greatness came to an abrupt, screeching halt.

I went up to the Fort Worth area this past weekend, but I went up 6 to 35 to get there, so Sunday was the first time I'd been in that spot in almost two years.

It was weird. I was anxious about it the whole day, and distracted. Which isn't a good thing while driving 75 down the interstate. I couldn't remember exactly where I was, but I knew it was after Centerville (that's my DQ stop) because I had stopped there to let Chelsea go potty and to get a frosty treat. That frosty treat was later thrown away. I remembered that I pulled over at a weigh station right after Krystal said those words. So, once I went through Centerville and saw the "All trucks next right if lights flashing" I knew that was it.

I wasn't really prepared for what I felt, and how it hit me. After talking to someone who has become a TERRIFIC friend, I think she nailed it. This time, I knew the truth-there was no doubt that he was dead. If you remember, my phone died shortly after I talked to Krystal so it didn't really SINK in. I didn't REALLY believe it until I got home, plugged my phone in and the voice mails and text messages started piling up from everyone trying to get a hold of me. And then I saw the box of "us" sitting on the table. I'd gotten it down out of the closet to get out the bottle of perfume he'd given me for Valentine's day.

It's so strange the details I remember. I have always been very detail oriented, and remember the strangest, seemingly minute details, but it's even worse when it comes to him.

Right now, I just don't care.

About anything, really.

*Edited*
Because what's the point?

And one time, we danced.

I don't know why this memory has been in my head so prominently the last few days...

I met them at a little restaurant for dinner on my way into town one Friday evening. We had a great meal, and his mom and grandmother headed back to the house. We were headed back to the house too, but made a stop at Coushatta. (I HATE gambling and think it's the biggest waste of money, but I really wanted a drink!) We walked around a bit, him showing me the stuff he worked on while working on the construction projects they did there. Then we made our way to the Miko Room where there is pretty much always live music. They had a nice sized dance floor so we took to it and while the dance floor was pretty crowded, it was like we were the only two people out there.

Google Reader

Mine's all jacked up. Anyone else's messed up?
And it won't let me manage my subscriptions.