Renny 2-24-97 to 9-10-99 A year ago today (9th) Renny went in for exploratory surgery, but passed early that next morning at an after-hours hospital. I can't believe it's already been a year now. I miss her so very much and I am still so very lost without her. I miss her presence and just knowing that she's here. I am incomplete without her. She was my first and only until a month before she got really ill and passed. I had gotten her a buddy that she never really got to know. I picked out more plants yesterday and today because some I planted last year at her grave didn't make it. Her very first 'toy' (which she never lost interest in and that I still have) was a long, narrow, and lightweight shoebox that I cut a square in one end of. She used to hide in it and walk around looking for me even when she was less than two feet away. Ever so often she'd quickly lift it above her head to get a better idea of where she was. We started a game where I would call out "Renny... where's Renny... where did Renny go?" Then I'd quickly tip the box off of her and she would get so excited and frustrated because I had 'found' her. We continued to play our game long after she was full-grown and the tip of her tail stuck out. I want to extend a big "THANK YOU" to everyone who has ever written to me about her. I'm sure some don't quite know how much it means, or how much it really helps, but believe me... it *really* does. She was only two and a half years old. I never thought nor expected anything like this would ever happen... definitely not at her age... Please be with them and do as much for them as you possibly can because you just never really know. My sincere and heartfelt condolences to all who have ever lost a little one and prayers for all that are having difficulties and/or aren't well. Sonya [Posted in FML issue 3170]