In the 1950's, I read an article in The Readers Digest, titled "A Warm Heart and A Cold Nose". What could this be about? I thought. Well, to any of us dog lovers, we now know exactly; "Man's Best Friend",of course, woman's too. There has never been a time in my life without a dog or two, mostly small cause of the kids. My ego promised that someday I would have a big dog, a "Man's Dog". My wish came true in 2009, when I married Harley, my daughter's mother-in-law, another great story. Harley owned two standard Poodles, Raven & Cooper. Raven was the biggest a standard could be, while Cooper was on the smaller side of standard. When Raven and I first looked eyeball to eyeball, I knew who owned who. I was going to be happy to serve him. Take him outside to walk and pee, call him to dinner, sneak him a human cookie from my secret stash, when Mother was not around. He had to lick my plate, even before I was done my meal. Throwing balls or toys around for Raven to fetch was his favorite past-time; my arm got so sore. You know the list. I enjoyed the most was "Man Time"; we sat and talked to each other as I gently rubbed his ears with the heel of my hand or scratched his chest, that place no dog can get to. We were eyeball to eyeball, sharing love and respect and just being guys. The best of friends we were. We even fought wars together and had celebrations to our victories. Victory was to allude us all in this last great battle. Our spirits and our hearts were no match for the dreaded desease. Shortly after 1PM on March 29th, Harley, Cooper, Max and I allowed our vet to gently release Raven's great heart, his great spirit and close "Those Big Brown Eyes" - forever. The sting is too great; the emptiness is too vast and the loneliness is too horrific. And we are too aware that way too many of you have had or will have this same great loss. God please help us...
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