[Gpdd] Announcement: Once agaihn I am late...

[Off1Knight at aol.com]

Once again I must apologize for my tardiness in offering my most sincere 
condolences to three of the subscribers on the passing of their little ones. I am 
speaking of those grieving parents left behind by Abby who was 7 1/2 years 
old, Fred who was only 2 1/2 and a third whose name has been lost due to ALL my 
emails having been obliterated while rebuilding this computer. The third of 
which I speak passed over the bridge just shortly before and was in a posting 
shortly before Christmas. This little one is by no means ANY LESS important to me 
than any of those that I have spoken of to date. So with reference to this 
third little one I respectfully ask that the little guys mother of father to 
please Email me with the his/her name and age and how they passed on so I can 
properly and respectfully recognize his/her passing. I am embarrassed that I am 
not able to remember so please do excuse me and respond by email. I speak now 
of Fred and Abby who recently made the trip over the bridge. How very strange 
it is to speak of two little lives each the same and each so different. The 
same in the respect that each had wonderful lives. Lives the were filled with 
nothing but love and caring...with parsley, greens and carrots in abundance and 
every day bringing more of the same. Yet different in that with God's grace, 
Abby lived to the fine old age of 7 1/2 years. I say this knowing that to Debra, 
it could NEVER have been that long. What can be said for the passing of Fred, 
only 2 1/2 years young. If there is wisdom in God's plan then in Fred's life 
that wisdom was to take him without allowing him to suffer as he prepared for 
the trip. Up until just one day before he made crossed over the bridge, he was 
his old self, STILL ringing the bell and keeping his loving mom Debra busier 
than a one armed paper hanger. I can hear her now reading this and hearing her 
heart saying..."how very right that is but it was the absolute labor of love. 
A labor we ALL afford our little girls and boys and would do it until the day 
WE crossed over the bridge. Toni Spoke of thinking she might have been able 
to do more had she reacted earlier to the almost imperceptible signs. To her, I 
offer that you did all you need to do not only when you did take Abby to the 
vet but for the ENTIRE 2 and 1/2 years of love you gave her. She could have 
asked for no more than that and BELIEVE me they KNOW when you love them. It's 
that electricity not only YOU feel when you pick them up or hear them purr but 
what THEY feel as well. Fred, Abby and ALL of our little ones I KNOW sense 
gentleness and care we all take in the simple act of picking them up and out of 
their "houses" be it to feed them their cornucopia on the table while YOU eat 
dinner like our guy George, or to place them on the floor to get into all kinds 
of trouble. It doesn't matter in the least, they glow inside just as we do. So 
never feel you could have done more and know that it is not what you have NOT 
done, it is what you have. And if you subscribe to this newsletter, you LOVE 
your little ones more and more every day. Especially when you read so often 
how some must leave in a blink of an eye. What is identical in the passing of 
both Fred and Abby is that both Toni and Debra feel as though their lives were 
made fuller by these little guys regardless of chronology, but for no more than 
an instant, a blink of an eye and to think years have gone by could not 
possibly be true. No one promises tomorrow so thank God EVERY day for "one more 
day" with your little loved ones. Treat EVERY DAY as though you might not have 
your guy tomorrow. If you do these things, will it lessen the tears, will it 
ease the pain in your heart maybe not. What it will do is make you realize that 
it is not what you could have done but rather what you have done. And THAT is 
infinitely more healing. So once again, please accept my deepest and most 
sincere regrets on the loss of these most precious of God's gifts to your hearts. 
They wait for you patiently out of sight just over the bridge but NEVER out of 
your hearts. 

Sincerely,

Joseph C. Petrillo, George the guinea pigs daddy