My Dearest Aislyn,
 
I had no idea that when I kissed you good night Sunday night it would be
for the last time.  You didn't feel so well during the day, I know.  But
since you ate the chicken gravy I gave you and held it down, I thought
you'd be okay until the morning when I took Bandit in for his surgery.  If
only I had known how sick you were, I never would have waited to take you.
I will forever wonder if it would have made a difference.  If I had done
something differently, would you still be here with us?  I'm so sorry that
you were all alone when you died; that we never got to say good bye.  Dr.
Wellborn checked you over, but could find no reason for why you left us.
You were always such a healthy little girl.  I thought you'd be the one to
reach your older years without the diseases that plagued your brothers and
sisters.  You were so young to have left so suddenly - you'd have turned
six in January.  I still can't believe you are gone.  I can only guess that
Jasmine must have needed you for some mischief at the Bridge and asked for
you to join her sooner rather than later.  I smile to think of the two of
you together again, creating mayhem.
 
I see you everywhere here.  I see you dashing madly up the stairs with your
beloved dumbbell in your mouth.  I see you trying determinedly to carry a
toy twice your size up the stairs, only to have it tumble back down as your
reached the top, squeaking as it bounced on each step.  I see you curled up
in the purple ball taking a nap.  I see you waking up from the soundest
sleep at the slightest jingle from your dumbbell or rattle of the raisin
box.  I see you making your way from the staircase onto the bar to check
things out.  No one else but you figured this out (but I know Jasmine would
have too if she were here).  I see you sleeping with your front paws
stretched forward, with you little head between them in that precious pose
that only you had.  =20I see your smudgy nose, that looked like the black
had worn off in spots letting the pink show through.  Everywhere I look, I
see things that you did just a few short days ago.  I would never have
believed that you would never do them again.  I'm sorry that you never got
to see the pumpkin for Halloween this year.  I remember how you tried to
drag it away last year.  You were so cute.
 
I hope that you found Jasmine and Amber and Gandalf and that you are all
having a wonderful reunion.  I know Amber will introduce you to the friends
there that you never met.  Please know that we miss you so much and will
always love you.  The room you shared with your brothers and sisters seems
so empty without you.  They all miss you.  Jessie has taken over as keeper
of the dumbbell.  She has moved it into the closet and wants you to know
that she will take good care of it for you.  Mandy is curled up napping
with her tennis ball as I write this.  But she looks for you each time she
wakes up, checking all of the places you used to nap, wondering what
happened to her sister and littermate.  She's so lost without you; we all
are.  Aislyn, my little girl, I will always hold you close in my heart.
Til we meet again...
 
With all my love Your Mom, Lucie,
Missing you terribly with your Dad, Jack and brothers and sisters, Bandit,
Mandrake, Merlin, Myst, Clarence, Jessie, and Sarah, and your feline friend
Binks
[Posted in FML issue 3229]