[Gpdd] RAINBOW BRIDGE: Snowy Bear

[Stephen Bradley]

I am sorry this is so late in coming; I have been away from the Digest for a long time.  It's still very difficult for me, and I just read the posts about Snowy Bear tonight.

Corrine, I wanted to write, because what happened to you was so similar to what happened to us with our dear Mr. Mike back in January.  His bladder was ruptured while a vet was trying to get a urine sample from him, and we did not realize what had happened in time, and we lost him.  We have played it over and over in our minds, wishing we had gotten him to a different vet, or asked different questions sooner, of course.

We were devastated.  We tried so hard to do all the right things, and we couldn't save him.  We loved him so much, and we still couldn't save him.

Right now, most comforting words won't mean much to you, but at some point, you will come to see that it's not about doing the right thing, about making the perfect decisions  --  nobody makes the perfect decisions every time, in every situation -- it's about loving our pigs with all our hearts while they're with us.

Whether or not there was anything you could have done, or anybody else would have done, differently at any given moment, that's an imponderable mystery.  How much you loved him shines through every word you write.

We are crying for Snowy Bear, and for you, in Melrose tonight.

Steve and Ginger, and
Mr. Cuddles, Mr. Bumper, and Mr. Brownie,
Remembering Niles, Butterscotch, Clover, and Mike, forever and ever and always.