With no apology, I launch into the personal here. If you don't want to share grief, please feel free to delete this very personal message to you who in such a short while have shared so much with me. Wil Cavanaugh
She was one of our best friends. The people with whom she lived until 1993 called her Buddha-- the enlightened one. They were going to put her to sleep, because they suspected she had killed one of their ducks. Chuck loved her, and would not allow that, so he brought her home where she has been the kindest, happiest, most wonderful spirit around. She frequently had a rooster who walked beside her. She knew the peafowl well, while we had those birds. We had many waterfowl who trusted and loved her. She was a snake-killer, and she hunted with Merlin in her prime. Living in a Baptist enclave has its disadvantages. Chuck did not want to change Boo's name at her advanced age, but he did not want the locals to think ill of her, so he suggested a compromise. Why not change her name to "Bootiful?" And so we did. She knew her name, and she knew she was loved. We have many memories, many pictures. She was our friend. We think there was more wrong with her poor body at the end than just the heart failure, for which we were taking her to the vet. She would swell so big, and we'd have to have her drained. But she lost nearly all her fine musculature. Both Chuck and I knew last night that she had reached the end. Chuck sat in front of her on the floor in the dining room, in the full knowledge that she needed to leave. I will always believe that she was staying until Chuck was ready to release her. Gently, with tears coursing down his cheeks, he told her goodby. He told her that she was free to go when she was ready. Then we picked her up and put her on Chuck's pillow on the floor next to his side of the bed. Chuck lay awake most of the night, and he was with her when she passed over at 4:12 this morning. He got up and tended to her dishes and leftover food. I am grateful that he got to be with her. She loved me, but he was her special friend-- beloved above all. As you may imagine, we are in deep mourning. I knew she was not well. . . desperately ill, in fact; but we miss her so deeply it is beyond words. She is now at the heart of God, I know. She can talk, she can think as she never thought before, and she KNOWS she was loved-- still is. We will always be grateful to have spent 5 years with this wonderful person-- our friend. And if I might be so bold as to say: Our loss is Heaven's gain. They're going to have some fun up there, now that our Bootiful is there to liven the place up. I've often heard: If it's not beautiful, you're not dead. I believe that. It's the only thing that makes losing Bootiful bearable. I hope you will forgive us for sharing our pain-- that was not my intent. I simply did not want the passing of this most wonderful person to go by without remark. She deserves better than that. Yours, Chuck & Wil -- The silver-list is a moderated forum for discussion of colloidal silver. To join or quit silver-list or silver-digest send an e-mail message to: silver-list-requ...@eskimo.com -or- silver-digest-requ...@eskimo.com with the word subscribe or unsubscribe in the subject: line. To post, address your message to: silver-list@eskimo.com List maintainer: Mike Devour <mdev...@id.net>
