The joy of animals...

It has been a bad year for the Ledbetters/Copelands in terms of animals. First, my childhood dog, Belle (a beautiful golden retriever named for Belle from Beauty and the Beast) got to the point where my parents had to decide to put her down. Then my cat, Gorbachev, was killed by a coyote in my back yard. A couple of weeks ago, the dog that my sister and I adopted from a sorority sister at Auburn also had to be put to sleep. Gracie was a mutt in all sense of the word, but it was if she KNEW she was given a second chance at life and she never gave us or my parents a moment's trouble. She was only 9 years old, but we think she had cancer.

My sister Megan called me on Saturday and told me that my parents had put our childhood cat, Mada, to sleep that morning. Mada was given to my sister on her 15th birthday (June 10, 1995) by her boyfriend, Adam (Mada is Adam spelled backward.) Mada quickly established herself as my mother's cat. Whenever my mom sat down, Mada was in her lap, contentedly purring. She brought my mother (and all of us) much joy throughout the years. She was 14 years old and was in full kidney failure. (side note: I'm sure glad they don't put people down when they are in full kidney failure!) :)

After Gracie died, my mother and I were commiserating on the phone and tearfully my mom says, "Why do we put ourselves through this?" At the time, I couldn't agree with her more. I had just lost Gorby and was grieving him and Gracie. But the thought of life without domestic animals doesn't appeal to me. When I've had a horrible day at work with humans, I know that my animal family will love me unconditionally and cheer me up. There's nothing like being the greeted at the door by slobbering tongues and wagging tales... they always bring a smile to my face. With all the problems that animals bring,(i.e. immobility, unclean house, "accidents", vet bills, and short lives to name a few) they also bring a pure and simple joy. And I wouldn't trade it for the world.

I mean, how could you not love these faces:






Long live pets!