Pets.

We have a dog.  We have two cats.  We are parents.  Just to fids, not kids.

They are wonderful.  They drive us nuts. 

If you have animals in your life you are truly blessed.  I hope you know that!

Some folks don’t seem to realize just what they have when they have a pet. 

Unconditional love.  Total aggravation.  3 am puking.  Back warmer at night.  Midnight walks.  Hugs at all hours.  Love without end.  Vet visits.  Long walks.  Marathon petting sessions (not that kind, you have a dirty mind!).  licking boo boos and tears away and making it all better.  Whining for stuff.  Meows that sound like words (Mama).  Fighting with each other.  Protection.    

Did I mention love?  How much love?  More than you will ever get from another human being.  And yet, we tend to take them for granted.  Until they are gone. 

I was sitting here tonight feeling a little sad, thinking about some of our babies that have gone on across that rainbow bridge.  Thinking how much I missed them and really contemplating the thought that our girls are getting older and we are about to start stressing them out on a regular basis.  I am not sure that is the fairest thing we can do for them.  What is the alternative?  Find them new homes?  I don’t think I could do that – even if we could find someone I would trust them to, we are all they have known for almost ten years…..how fair or right would that be?  Abandon them?  If that even crossed our minds it would be instantly thrown out as totally unacceptable.  Put them down?  Are you kidding me?  Not a chance in hel!!!!   

So I guess that means they are just going to have to be a tad stressed for a while.  Who knows?  They might actually start to like it, all the new smells and all the new people and all the new places.  Just because they haven’t known about them before, doesn’t mean they may not like it in the future.

We DO realize what we have.  We have three hearts that are so big they encompass the entire world as they know it…and that means that we are the most important family they have.  I think they are the most important family WE have too.  As long as they live in our lives, they are our lives.  Thank you, God, for our fids.