We lost our "lil girl" Maxi last Monday. She was somewhere around 8, and had lived with insulinoma since last May. I picked her out from now gone shelter in Aurora in 2000, where she had been taken by a lady for biting everyone who touched her. They moved her in gloves. And she DID bite, wowwee. And she mistrusted everyone, forever, except me and her Daddy, and sometimes he annoyed her. But she was the most energetic, adorable little white girl anywhere. I miss watching her fly down the stairs at mach 12, slide under the sofa, and then turn on her back and kick the sofa skirt like a boxer with the little bag. She never went anywhere except at mach 12. And in the last three weeks, that was the speed at which death came. Finally, with the insulinoma staring out of her unseeing eyes, we took her to Dr. LaBonde last Monday morning, she had been gone for eight hours, but her body was not through making the last laps. Bless you my Darling, you were so special. The phenomenon is how much of our hearts rip away with each loss of these tiny, special gifts from God. How I wish it didn't hurt so much, but I wouldn't have missed the dance for anything. nancy in colorado [Posted in FML issue 5158]