Zoe By My Side- Our Journey with Cushings

Dear Addy
Yes the years go by. You lose loved one, parents aging,dealing with them getting older,while we are getting older also. Koko is such a sweetheart and a blessing for you to get through all this.
Hugs Sonja and Angel Apollo

Thank God you have Koko. He is such a love bug! xxxxxx

Our furry family members are good at making everything better. <3

Hi Addy

Hope your feeling better and have got rid of that virus, so hate being sick... no time for that sort of carry on!! I had my flu injection a couple of weeks back, we are lucky and are all encouraged to get it at work, it is free for all of us. Sore arm for a couple of days though, but I guess that is better than a raging flu!

Did you get to see the lunar eclipse last night, we had such a great view of it here. It started to fade about 6.30 pm,I was at a 60th party at a restaurant at the beach so we had a ringside seat with it over the ocean. It was so beautiful, but not as blood red as I thought it would be, more like a muddy pink. It took over 2 hrs for it to eclipse and then come back to brightness. Hope some of you got to see it!

Hope you have some time off for Easter and get to spend it with Koko and get out and about in the sun! xxx

You were on my mind last night. I hope this virus is gone and that you are finding moments of joy in your memories of Zoe. If it helps, she is missed by many.
Hugs,
Leslie and the gang

Leslie, I'm down for the count. I had a flu shot so I am not sure what my boss gave me but it is wicked. I had to stay home from work today, my asthma is starting to flare up. This time of year if I get a respiratory bug it can end up causing pneomina and an asthma flare up because my allergies are kiciing in as well. I called my boss this morning wheezing into the phone and said I am NOT coming in. They will just have to deal with it and figure it out. I have been dragging myself to work and I should have stayed home before it got this bad.

I missed the blood moon , Trish it sounds so beautiful watching it on the beach. What a wonderful picture in my head.

I opened up Zoe's memory chest to finally put all the cards we received away. Big mistake, I could not stop bawling. Zoe brought such joy to my heart each and every day. She was a difficult dog, I always worried she would bite someone. Heck, she would bite me:rolleyes: But the good far outweighed the problems she had. I miss her personality, she was always engaged, Miss Spunk. Hubby used to call her the "Hoofer with the Woofer" I dont know what exactly that meant but we would laugh and then she would go do something silly. She liked it when we laughed.

I embrace and hold each memory so close to my heart and I cherish each one of them and they do make me smile. It is the last memories of her that cause so much pain, that last month of her life, the last day of her life, those memories will forever make me cry and break my heart over and over. But I guess that would be the case, as the rest of her life, those memories still bring such joy.

Her "birthday" is tomorrow. I want to smile and remember her as she was that first day she came to her forever home. Maybe I should copy her story here on her thread. Perhaps that would help me feel better.

Oh, Addy, would you please? I'd love that. Zoe left such a big hole in everyone's heart. Miss her so.
Hope you feel better soon so you and Koko can enjoy spring weather.:)

Life Before Zoe:

The family dog along with an array of cats accompanied me throughout my childhood. Candy, our German Shepherd mix, enjoyed sharing my bed. My brother would haul her into his room at night holding her close, wanting her to sleep with him. Patient as she was, she would lay very still. As soon as he drifted off to sleep, his hold loosening, she would escape, run to my room then jump up on my bed. Looking back on it, I had the bigger bed so she had much more room to stretch out. But as a child, I thought it was because she was my Lassie, my loyal, best friend. I can still close my eyes and have a vivid picture of the day my father brought her home. She was a tiny, furry thing, curled up in his left arm. My mother, in her apron, hands on her hips, was having no part of it. My brother and I rushed from the dinner table to grab her from my dad, all the while he was explaining, “But Betty, she’s a SMALL German Shepherd.” There was the month of “Stay in your box!” at night as my father tried to accustom her to our household. He kept her in a box in the bathroom with a blanket and an alarm clock. The ticking was supposed to calm her mimicking her mother’s heartbeat. I loved to crawl into the bathroom and lay next to the box.

Once I started my own family, the cats and the family dog tradition continued. Sassy was a pure bred Golden Retriever, as sweet as could be, loyal to all of us. I took her to obedience training, walked her and fed her, the usual duties that end up falling to the mom. I had no illusions of her being another “Lassie,” she was our family dog. When my husband and I divorced, Sassy stayed with me, my daughter and her cat, a birthday present from her father. Sassy started to sleep in my bed which was fine with me. I liked the warmth. But I did not turn to her for nurturing during my divorce.

After I remarried, an aging Sassy developed health problems so we eventually had to put her down. My family then consisted of me, my new husband and Tinker, my daughter’s tiny, black and white cat. Chris, my rebellious daughter, moved out on her own giving Tinker to my husband. We were happy the tiny cat was not going to room with Chris and a passel of other girls and cats. Tinker seemed to like remaining at home with me and was really attached to Jerry. She became our baby. I rocked her in the rocking chair and sang to her when she was ill. We brought her Christmas presents, birthday presents and went off the deep end. Tinker loved being an only child. We lived happily for many years.

Princess was a yellow and white short hair we found wandering around my employer’s yard. He took her to the humane society, sure that someone would be looking for her. She was the kindest, most loving cat we had ever met. When no one claimed her, we adopted her bringing her back to the factory. The cat was not allowed inside our offices, so she stayed outside in the courtyard with access to the basement through an exterior door in the yard. Since it was summer, she did not seem to mind. Princess hung out in the courtyard during the day, going down the stairs to the basement at night. I rushed to work every morning, my heart in my throat, terrified she would be gone. I would stand at the top of the basement stairs, calling her. There would be a flash of yellow and white as Princess bounded up the stairs jumping into my arms, purring like crazy. I would hold her close, so grateful she had not wandered off. I eventually talked my boss into allowing her to live inside. She became the office cat. Princess loved to sleep on my desk and share my lunch. It was a perfect life, one loving cat waiting for me at work, another loving cat waiting for me when I got home. I adored them both.

The perfect life had to end. I lost both of my girls. They each died in November, one year apart. I knew it was coming. Tinker was 21 years old. I had lived with her longer than any human, which was such an odd thought to me. There was so much history with her. She was an extension of me, really. She was a constant in my life, had always been there no matter what for twenty-one years.

Our veterinarian liked to say Tinker lasted so long because she was so mean. But she was never mean to me or to my husband. Besides, she was the runt of the litter and needed some spunk. It was that spunk that endeared her to Jerry. He loved a feisty girl. She went first. It broke my heart. I could not look at pictures of her, so I found a photo in a magazine of a little black and white cat with a pink nose, slinking through the grass. The picture was the spitting image of Tinker. I still have it hanging in my office today.

Not even the new kitten my boss presented to me one morning as I walked into to work could ease the hurt in my heart. She was a cute little kitten, but I couldn’t allow her to get close. He urged me to take her home to give her a chance. I refused, in tears. Little Luna became by boss’s cat, not mine. I dreaded going home and started spending longer and longer hours at the office. My husband worked most evenings so it seemed there was really no point to go home, home to an empty, quiet, dark house. At least Princess did not haunt me at work. Her picture brought me comfort so I glanced at it many times throughout the day. It was just easier to stay at work. I didn’t wonder why.

This brings me to the start of my story and my life with Zoë, the mutt with the butt, the hoofer with the woofer, the best little thing on four legs I could have ever imagined. But then, I am getting ahead of myself. For I really must start at the beginning; the beginning that finally brought me to an end.


to be continued on Zoe's birthday

Oh Addy, I hope you add Zoe's story, too. That would be so special for us all.

I've been sick all week with a very weird bug, also. It seems to change every day, but I never feel better :(. It started out with some sneezing, then coughing, then GI upset (?), now my ears are plugged. I periodically fill nauseated in between the coughing. And I can't taste anything and have no energy whatsoever. I am so sick of feeling sick...! The worst part is I have just been laying around and then that makes me dwell on things I'm sad about, and then I start crying, and then that plugs me up even worse. :( :(

On a brighter note, even though we had a freeze warning overnight, I don't think it actually froze right here. So hopefully the dogwoods and azaleas will keep on blooming through the weekend. I think it is finally spring here, and hopefully this was our last freeze. :)

I will be thinking of you and our Zoe as soon as tomorrow dawns.

Love, Marianne

P.S. While I was struggling with typing out my little note, I see you've started Zoe's story...Hooray!!! :) :)

Oh boy, I better go and get a box of Kleenex before I start reading Zoe's story as I haven't been able to read one post by Addy without crying since sweet Zoe's passing.:o