This is my wish for you:

 

This is my wish for you:

 

Comfort on difficult days,

 

smiles when sadness intrudes,

 

rainbows to follow the clouds,

 

laughter to kiss your lips,

 

sunsets to warm your heart,

 

hugs when spirits sag, beauty

 

for your eyes to see,

 

friendships to brighten your

 

being, faith so that you can

 

believe, confidence for when

 

you doubt, courage to know

 

yourself, patience to accept

 

the truth, Love to complete

 

your life.

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR

 



And No One Came



Heaven Mahle

The shelter manager's letter:
"I am posting this (and it is long) because I think our society needs a huge wake-up call.
As a shelter manager, I am going to share a little insight with you all - a view from the inside, if you will.

Maybe if you saw the life drain from a few sad, lost, confused eyes, you would change your mind about breeding and selling to people you don't even know - that puppy you just sold will most likely end up in my shelter when it's not a cute little puppy anymore.
How would you feel if you knew that there's about a 90% chance that dog will never walk out of the shelter it is going to be dumped at - purebred or not! About 50% of all of the dogs that are "owner surrenders" or "strays" that come into my shelter are purebred dogs.
No shortage of excuses
 The most common excuses I hear are:
We are moving and we can't take our dog (or cat).
 Really? Where are you moving to that doesn't allow pets?
The dog got bigger than we thought it would.
 How big did you think a German Shepherd would get?
We don't have time for her.
 Really? I work a 10-12 hour day and still have time for my 6 dogs!
She's tearing up our yard.
 How about bringing her inside, making her a part of your family?
They always tell me:
 We just don't want to have to stress about finding a place for her. We know she'll get adopted - she's a good dog. Odds are your pet won't get adopted, and how stressful do you think being in a shelter is?
Well, let me tell you. Dead pet walking!
Your pet has 72 hours to find a new family from the moment you drop it off, sometimes a little longer if the shelter isn't full and your dog manages to stay completely healthy.
 If it sniffles, it dies.
Your pet will be confined to a small run / kennel in a room with about 25 other barking or crying animals. It will have to relieve itself where it eats and sleeps. It will be depressed and it will cry constantly for the family that abandoned it.
 If your pet is lucky, I will have enough volunteers that day to take him / her for a walk. If I don't, your pet won't get any attention besides having a bowl of food slid under the kennel door and the waste sprayed out of its pen with a high-powered hose.
 If your dog is big, black or any of the "bully" breeds (pit bull, rottweiler, mastiff, etc) it was pretty much dead when you walked it through the front door. Those dogs just don't get adopted.
 If your dog doesn't get adopted within its 72 hours and the shelter is full, it will be destroyed.
If the shelter isn't full and your dog is good enough, and of a desirable enough breed, it may get a stay of execution, though not for long. Most pets get very kennel protective after about a week and are destroyed for showing aggression. Even the sweetest dogs will turn in this environment.
 If your pet makes it over all of those hurdles, chances are it will get kennel cough or an upper respiratory infection and will be destroyed because shelters just don't have the funds to pay for even a $100 treatment.
The grim reaper
 Here's a little euthanasia 101 for those of you that have never witnessed a perfectly healthy, scared animal being "put-down".
 First, your pet will be taken from its kennel on a leash. They always look like they think they are going for a walk - happy, wagging their tails. That is, until they get to "The Room".
Every one of them freaks out and puts on the breaks when we get to the door. It must smell like death, or they can feel the sad souls that are left in there. It's strange, but it happens with every one of them. Your dog or cat will be restrained, held down by 1 or 2 vet techs (depending on their size and how freaked out they are). A euthanasia tech or a vet will start the process. They find a vein in the front leg and inject a lethal dose of the "pink stuff". Hopefully your pet doesn't panic from being restrained and jerk it's leg. I've seen the needles tear out of a leg and been covered with the resulting blood, and been deafened by the yelps and screams.
They all don't just "go to sleep" - sometimes they spasm for a while, gasp for air and defecate on themselves.
 When it all ends, your pet's corpse will be stacked like firewood in a large freezer in the back, with all of the other animals that were killed, waiting to be picked up like garbage.
What happens next? Cremated? Taken to the dump? Rendered into pet food? You'll never know, and it probably won't even cross your mind. It was just an animal, and you can always buy another one, right?
Liberty, freedom and justice for all
 I hope that those of you that have read this are bawling your eyes out and can't get the pictures out of your head. I do everyday on the way home from work. I hate my job, I hate that it exists and I hate that it will always be there unless people make some changes and realize that the lives you are affecting go much farther than the pets you dump at a shelter.
Between 9 and 11 MILLION animals die every year in shelters and only you can stop it. I do my best to save every life I can but rescues are always full, and there are more animals coming in everyday than there are homes.
 My point to all of this is DON'T BREED OR BUY WHILE SHELTER PETS DIE!
Hate me if you want to - the truth hurts and reality is what it is.
 I just hope I maybe changed one person's mind about breeding their dog, taking their loving pet to a shelter, or buying a dog. I hope that someone will walk into my shelter and say "I saw this thing on Facebook and it made me want to adopt".
 That would make it all worth it."
Author unknown

Quote for Today

Lisa Parker Art

Men go forth to wonder at the heights of mountains,

 

the huge waves of the sea, the broad flow of the rivers,

 

the vast compass of the ocean, the courses of the stars;

 

and they pass by themselves without wondering.

 

 

St. Augustine, Confessions,

 

Book X. chapter 8

 

 

 

The Dinner Date

 

Loneliness by Artist Ewa Gawlik

After 21 years of marriage, my wife wanted me to take another woman out to dinner and a movie. She said, "I love you, but I know this other woman loves you and would love to spend some time with you."
 The other woman that my wife wanted me to visit was my mother, who had been a widow for 19 years, but the demands of my work and my 3 children had made it possible to visit her only occasionally.
 That night I called to invite her to go out for dinner and a movie.
 "What's wrong, are you well?" she asked. My mother is the type of woman who suspects that a late night call or surprise invitation is a sign of bad news.
 "I thought that it would be pleasant to spend some time with you," I responded. "Just the two of us."
 She thought about it for a moment, and then said, "I would like that very much."
 That Friday after work, as I drove over to pick her up I was a bit nervous. When I arrived at her house, I noticed that she, too, seemed to be nervous about our date. She waited in the door with her coat on. She had curled her hair and was wearing the dress that she had worn to celebrate her last wedding anniversary. She smiled from a face that was as radiant as an Angel's. "I told my friends that I was going to go out with my son, and they were impressed," she said, as she got into the car. "They can't wait to hear about our meeting."
 We went to a restaurant that, although not elegant, was very nice and cozy. My mother took my arm as if she were the First Lady. After we sat down, I had to read the menu. Her eyes could only read large print. Half way through the entries, I lifted my eyes and saw Mom sitting there staring at me. A nostalgic smile was on her lips. "It was I who used to have to read the menu when you were small," she said. "Then it's time that you relax and let me return the favor," I responded.
 During the dinner, we had an agreeable conversation — nothing extraordinary but catching up on recent events of each other's life. We talked so much that we missed the movie. As we arrived at her house later, she said, "I'll go out with you again, but only if you let me invite you." I agreed.
 "How was your dinner date?" Asked my wife when I got home.
 "Very nice. Much more so than I could have imagined," I answered.
 A few days later, my mother died of a massive heart attack. It happened so suddenly that I didn't have a chance to do anything for her. Some time later, I received an envelope with a copy of a restaurant receipt from the same place where mother and I had dined. An attached note said: "I paid this bill in advance. I wasn't sure that I could be there; but nevertheless I paid for two plates — one for you and the other for your wife. You will never know what that night meant for me."
 "I love you, son."
 At that moment, I understood the importance of saying in time: "I love you," and to give our loved ones the time that they deserve. Nothing in life is more important than your family. Give them the time they deserve, because these things cannot be put off till "some other time."
Original author:  Farrell, David
"That 'Other Woman' in My Life."
Reader's Digest _ October 1995
(pp. 159 - 160).

Angel of Grief

Angel of Grief at Stanford University
 

 I recently finished a book by Sherwin B. Nuland that I highly recommend.

 

His book addresses the contemporary issues in end-of-life care

 

in such an eloquent way, I wanted to share some of his thoughts with you. 

 

The National Bestseller is entitled,  How We Die ...Reflections on Life's Final Chapter.

 

Sherwin B. Nuland, MD,  was Clinical Professor of Surgery at Yale University,

 

until his retirement in 2009.

 

The following is an excerpt found in the Epilogue of Dr. Nuland's book:

 

"And so, if the classic image of dying with dignity must be

 

modified or even discarded, what is to be salvaged of our

 

hope for the final memories we leave to those who love us?

 

The dignity that we seek in dying must be found in the dignity

 

with which we have lived our lives.  Ars moriendi is ars vivendi: 

 

The art of dying is the art of living.  The honesty and grace

 

 of the years of life that are ending is the real measure of how

 

we die.  It is not in the last weeks or days that we compose the

 

message that will be remembered, but in all the decades that

 

preceded them.  Who has lived in dignity, dies in dignity.  William

 

Cullen Bryant was only twenty-seven years old when he added a final

 

section to his contemplation on death, "Thanatopsis, " but he

 

 already understood, as poets often do:

'So live, that when thy summons comes to join
The innumerable caravan, which moves
To that mysterious realm, where each shall take
His chamber in the silent halls of death,
Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night,
Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed
By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave,
Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.' "
 

I hope you find that person.



Blooming 1 by Karen Hale

I hope you find someone that loves you when you wake up in the morning. And I hope that person stops you from running to the bathroom to fix yourself before they can even get a peek at you. I hope they tell you how beautiful you are, not just in the way you look but in the way you hold their hands and laugh at their jokes. I hope you find someone who sends you messages when they don’t know whether to get coffee or tea at Starbucks. And I hope that person shares their cookies with you when they only have one left in the jar. I hope they buy you pizza when you’re having a crappy day and listen to you complain about the scripts in television shows that didn’t go according to your ways. I hope you find someone whose kisses make you forget you were ever upset in the first place. And I hope that person holds you like the one would hold an antique vase. I hope the first thing they see in a crowd is your face and I hope they find you in everyone else they meet. I hope you find someone that will give you the wings to soar and I hope this person decides to fly with you. I hope you find someone that really deserves you as much as you deserve them. I hope you find that person.
~Unknown.

And Then It Is Winter

AND THEN IT IS WINTER You know. . . time has a way of moving quickly and
catching you unaware of the passing years.

It seems just yesterday that I was young, just married and embarking on my new
life with my mate. Yet in a way, it seems like eons ago, and I wonder where all
the years went. I know that I lived them all. I have glimpses of how it was back
then and of all my hopes and dreams. But, here it is... the winter of my life
and it catches me by surprise...How did I get here so fast? Where did the years
go and where did my youth go?

I remember well seeing older people through the years and thinking that those
older people were years away from me and that winter was so far off that I could
not fathom it or imagine fully what it would be like. But, here it is...my
friends are retired and getting grey...they move slower
and I see an older person now. Some are in better and some worse shape than
me...but, I see the great change....Not like the ones that I remember who were
young and vibrant...but, like me, their age is beginning to show and we are now
those older folks that we used to see and never thought we'd be.

Each day now, I find that just getting a shower is a real target for the day!
And taking a nap is not a treat anymore... it's mandatory! Cause if I don't on
my own free will... I just fall asleep where I sit!

And so...now I enter into this new season of my life unprepared for all the
aches and pains and the loss of strength and ability to go and do things that I
wish I had done but never did!

But, at least I know, that though the winter has come, and I'm not sure how long
it will last...this I know, that when it's over on this earth...it's NOT over. A
new adventure will begin!

Yes, I have regrets. There are things I wish I
hadn't done...things I should have done, but indeed, there are many things I'm
happy to have done. It's all in a lifetime.

So, if you're not in your winter yet...let me remind you, that it will be here
faster than you think. So, whatever you would like to accomplish in your life
please do it quickly! Don't put things off too long!

Life goes by quickly. So, do what you can today, as you can never be sure
whether this is your winter or not! You have no promise that you will see all
the seasons of your life...so, live for today and say all the things that you
want your loved ones to remember...and hope that they appreciate and love you
for all the things that you have done for them in all the years past!

"Life" is a gift to you. The way you live your life is your gift to those who
come after. Make it a fantastic one.
LIVE IT WELL! ENJOY TODAY! DO SOMETHING FUN! BE HAPPY! HAVE A GREAT DAY!

REMEMBER:....
"It is health
that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.
"LIVE HAPPY IN THIS YEAR AND EVERY YEAR!

LASTLY, CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING:
TODAY IS THE OLDEST YOU'VE EVER BEEN, YET THE YOUNGEST YOU'LL EVER BE SO - ENJOY
THIS DAY WHILE IT LASTS.
~Your kids are becoming you.......
~Going out is good.. Coming home is better!
~You forget names.... But it's OK because other people forgot they even knew
you!!!
~You realize you're never going to be really good at anything.... especially
golf..
~The things you used to care to do, you no longer care to do, but you really do
care that you don't care to do them anymore.
~You sleep better on a lounge chair with the TV blaring than in bed. It's called
"pre-sleep".
~You miss the days when everything worked with just an "ON" and "OFF" switch..
~You tend to use more 4 letter words ... "what?"..."when?"... "what?" . ???
~Now that you can afford expensive jewelry, it's not
safe to wear it anywhere.
~You notice everything they sell in stores is "sleeveless"?!!!
~What used to be freckles are now liver spots.
~Everybody whispers.
~You have 3 sizes of clothes in your closet.... 2 of which you will never wear.
~But Old is good in some things: Old Songs, Old movies, and best of all, OLD
FRIENDS!!