Thursday 5/26/2011 – Mood:  Hurting

Today i am writing my selfish blog as it is about myself, Lance Greene/Founder and my fiance, Pat Mishler/VP of Straight Ahead outreach (Taking back Your Life) Inc.

Today, we made the decision to take our beloved dog “Gracie” to our vet and put her to sleep.  She was full of cancer and could not walk anymore, or barely drink water.  It all escalated so much within the last couple of days.

It got tougher as we still had to go out and help a couple of our Friends In Need who are in very difficult situations.   To be honest, it took all i had to keep my composure today, Pat too.  We provided much-needed food at one of our Friends In Need requests of whom we were recently referred, to provide Crisis Intervention to.  He called, we still had to go, no matter our problems, that’s how it works. It was not just about the food, it was about what we are trying to permanently accomplish in his life.  The other one we were to meet at an orientation never showed and we drove all over looking for her, a wild goose chase.

As many animal lovers believe about their pets, our Gracie was a special girl.  She was smart, sensitive, intuitive, loving, extremely unselfish and very protective.  (Sometimes a bad thing, lol)

To me, Gracie was so valuable because of the love she gave her Mom, Pat Mishler.  She was always so close, right at her feet.  Always accompanied her Mom outside every night and every morning during her cigarette moments when i would not because i cannot stand the heat, :-))!

We love her so much, maybe too much i suppose people might say. But she has help a special place with us and she was with us almost the entire time Pat and i have been together.

Her Brother Tobie will miss her too.  He seems confused, he holds his ears in a different way then i have seen them before, like a sad sort of way.  We love him too and will make sure he gets enough attention.

It has been a weird week for us as we welcomed one of our Friends In Needs human baby girl into this world on Monday/Tuesday by the name of “Gracie,” and now we say good-bye today to our canine “Gracie.”   Being the generous soul our Gracie was, i guess she was just making room for the new Gracie.

We will continue for a while as most people do to look for her when we get home. And i am sure we will cry some more each time for a while.  The days and nights i am here at my desk working and i turn to see Gracie is not smack against the back of my chair will be difficult i am sure.  When i am up until 4am, she won’t be coming in at 2:00am anymore to say, HEY, come to bed it is late!  She would always do that when i am up all night, she would come into the office and snort at me, turn towards the bedroom and if i didn’t come she would try one more time.  If i still didn’t come she would either give up and go to bed herself or lay at my feet.

She was/is a special girl and will be missed more than any dog Pat or i have ever had.

***We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to all the staff at Connechusett Animal Hospital of Clearwater, FL.  - Ken Jukoff, D.V.M. and his staff have always, always been extremely caring in their care of both our dogs, Gracie and Tobie.  Additionally, both Pat and i have never experienced a more fairly priced vet anywhere we have lived, whether it be in MN, PA, TN, MI, or here in FL.   Pat and i would also like to Thank Ken Jukoff, D.V.M. and his Connechusett Animal Hospital for not gouging us with fees when our Gracie was dying.  Their fees were beyond fair and their service was priceless to Pat & i.   We will continue to always bring our other dog Tobie to them for treatment even though they are over 15 miles one way from where we live in St. Petersburg, FL.  THANK YOU CONNECHUSETT!

Lance Greene