Dear Mr. Levin,
I am writing this letter because you might be one of very few people who would actually understand what I am talking about. Today my dog died. So many people would “It’s only a dog.” How wrong they would be. We had a beautiful, bright and delightful .grand-daughter. Her parents would begin a hate filled divorce… While my son went into a terrible depression and our grand-daughter’s mother would be dating and looking for her next husband, this wonderful girl would spend most of her days with us. She was the light of my husband’s life. For me it was a chance to recapture all that I had missed when my own daughter had died in infancy. When she was six years old her mother would find that husband she wanted. She took her daughter and moved two thousand miles away. For a while we had contact and then one day our phone calls were not answered our letters not responded to. Now what on earth could this possibly have to do with a “dog?” For no reason whatsoever we went into a pet store in the mall and there she was, a beautiful little cream colored Chihuahua, Only six weeks old and scared half to death, As foolish as it might have been, one look into her eyes and new she was ours. Price be damned, we took her home. We would face many more tragedies in the next 13 years but in all that time, every day we would look at our Sherry and smile and tell each other how very good God had been to bring us to her. I thought my faith in god was strong. I was in for a very big surprise.
I had spent the night before her death reading, of all things, the book of “Job.” Most assuredly not my favorite. I simply could not understand it.
I was off work the next day but I woke up at 4:38AM. At 5:00Am my husband went to the kitchen where the dogs sleep. He rapidly returned and said to me “Something is wrong with Sherry; she isn’t barking for her breakfast and won’t even eat her treat.” I jumped out of bed (quite a feat as I am old and partially crippled with hip and back problems). I went to the kitchen and there she was sitting up in her bed. She looked at me with those beautiful eyes. I thank God with all my heart for what came next, for I credit Him For I heard her speak to me with those eyes as clearly as if she a human with speech. “Mother” she said, “I have been waiting for you, I am going to die” The blood in my veins turned to ice. I snatched her up in my arms and took her to the bedroom and put her in bed with me. My husband followed, looking worried and stunned. The thought of taking her to vet went through my head but, a strong “No,” screamed from somewhere deep within me. My husband lay down with us and she painful crawled to him. We lay close together so she would held by both of us. As I am a nurse, my mind went into overdrive and I realized she had a stroke. She began to gasp for air and became increasingly limp. I said to my husband, “she is going to die”. I comforted my husband who was sobbing uncontrollably. Still I was cold as ice. Then, I went to get our other dog, who loved her very much and I could hear him whining from the other room. “He needs to know we haven’t just taken her away, dogs know more than we think” I said our sweet little boy Kirby went gently towards her then backed off for a moment, then went to my husband to lick his tears and snuggle, all of us together. She died quickly. But, she died in our arms surrounded by the same love she had herself always given to us. I realized I had been right, we did not have time to get to the vet. That is knowledge that can only come from something greater than yourself. It was hard to let go and we held her for hours. Then, I knew it was time, still cold as ice I said, “we must make arrangements” We wanted her with us for always so we chose cremation.
What a horrible call to have to make. Six hours after her death we had to leave her at the pet mortuary.
Once we were home and my husband stopped crying for a moment, I burst into great sobs. All I could say was, “Thank you god, thank that I was home, thank you that let me hear her and not just put down a bowl of food and go drink my coffee, thank you for letting her die in our arms. I thought I was a horrible person for feeling so cold during it all but, now I understand someone had to be rational, you chose me. Thank you for all the wonderful years you let us have with this great dog.
Now I understand the book of “Job”.
All of our love to you Mark, your family and most of all to your Sprite

Macyle from NV