Sometimes it takes a moment to sit back and realize there is a need to count your blessings. Once you start, if you do it right, you will probably find yourself re-prioritizing. The youngest of my charges, my 4-legged children, succumbed suddenly to a horrible illness that destroyed his intestines. Trying to figure out what was wrong with him involved what could have been, should have been, nearly a thousand dollars worth of tests before finally in desperation we rushed him into surgery. We never woke him up. He was born deaf and I pray daily he heard me all the times I told him he was such a good boy and how much I loved him. Because some very caring people are my vets and they cry when I do, those tests and surgery will not be half of what they could be. The rest of my kids are, while not healthy, are at least medically stable. For now at least, I have the funds to pay for all of our medicines, theirs and mine. We have a roof over our heads, food in our bowls. We don't drive a new car, but it's a reliable car. Food, shelter, transportation. In my own human family homes have been lost because there wasn't enough money to pay the mortgage. Dieting is well and good, but skipping meals because there is no food in the refrigerator and no money to buy any is not. Cars have been borrowed to get to work or a doctor's appointment when one broke down stranding its owner. Medicines are brought in from other countries because they are too expensive to buy here and the rush is on to get vision, dental and needed medical procedures done because those insurance benefits are about to be cut leaving doing without the only alternative. On the other hand, where others we know are loosing their jobs and all their medical benefits, our paychecks are secure and we will be able to retain at least basic health care coverage. Another shelter is in the middle of unimaginable hardship and heartbreak. Distemper is not an easy illness to deal with and death ravages not only bodies, but hearts and souls. I have seen photos of ferrets with distemper and pray it never crosses my door. I don't know how they can face what they are. I can't imagine. One of my foster moms called me this evening in a panic and tears. She works only part time and she just found out her rent is going to go up $800 a month. Not to $800 a month, up $800 a month. Besides my 3 foster ferrets, she has 3 of her own and nowhere for any of them, including her, to go. She's 60 years old. Makes the broken TV at my house kind of unimportant, don't you think? What's important at yours? Food, shelter, and what else? Hold those you love tightly. [Posted in FML 7049]