I haven't blogged in 2½ years. Greyhounds are such a joy, but Tom and I have taken on a really hard task, of welcoming old greyhounds into our lives, no holds barred. You might say to yourself that the clock is already running out on them, and that you should expect them to die sooner than later, but there is that piece of your heart that goes with them... well, when Jack went so suddenly in March 2005 it really ripped me apart. Who would think that an old guy you only had with you for a year would cause you to grieve with all your soul for another two. I should have known though, because of how long I hurt with the loss of Knight, my "Dearest Baby Doe."

I will say that I feel Jack with me every day, to a profound degree. He went beyond being my heartdog like Knight - he was a soulmate...

We said goodbye to the "Empress of all that she Surveys," our wonderful amazing Kimba back a year ago November due to cancer. She had such an indomitable spirit and we were lucky to have her with us for as long as we did, because she was nine when we got her. She gave everything to life and lived with us for a half a year past her 14th birthday, and left only because her body had failed her.

We said hello to Pretty Boy, now known as Jake nine days after Kimba got her wings. That is its own story and somewhen I will tell it. It seemed more than coincidence when Jake got here that his 5th birthday was discovered to be the day she passed.

Saturday we said goodbye to Terri because of cancer. Terri was a new years baby and we celebrated her 13th birthday on new years day. That was a wonderful milestone, because it was only two weeks prior that she was diagnosed. For being taken by such a horrible disease, her passing moment, 10:28 am on saturday, was a moment of extraordinary peace. My last memory of her is as if she was curled up for sleep dreaming.

Unlike any of the others that passed before her though she will continue on with us. Her daughters Cents and Dime remain. Dime joined her mother and sister here two years ago this past November. Though they individually are not at all like their mother, or like each other, each of them evokes her.

Full Circles. Jack's soul walks with me and guides me in life. Knight, wings revealed, will come for me when I die... Kimba made way for one who had waited for us, for Jake, to be in our home. And Terri continues on with us in her daughters flesh.

Terri, today I miss you most. Fly free, my sweet perfect girl.