My family went through the heartbreak of losing our beloved poodle, Fritz, of 14 years. Two months before we lost him we went through a scare of losing him to a cancer operation. It was a hernia instead.  We were so relieved.  He came back to us hale and hearty!  A short time later he was having breathing problems.  I took him to the vet, and went home.  Then the doctor called me and said there was no hope and I should get there right away.  I was all alone.  My husband and son were away and had both of our cars, so I had to take a taxi.  I had to make the decision to let him go by myself and take a taxi home again.  It was without a doubt, the most heart wrenching day  of my whole life.  I kissed him three times, once for my husband, once for my son, and a big hug and kiss for me.

      That was five years ago and I still get tears thinking about him.  Two years ago I started writing a poem, a way of venting my grief, called "How Do I Let You Go?" It helped! Since then I've written poems about the loss of a pet, friendship of our pets and having a new pet in our lives.

      Like they say, "Out of bad comes good."  My hope is, that others will find loving and sweet thoughts and memories of their pets in my poems.