[Gpdd] misc: Thank you... re Dora

[Mary Fran McCluskey]

Dear Everyone and Everypig,
I want to thank all of you for your kind sympathies on the passing of my
dear Dora. It was such a shock, and coming just as we were packing to
leave to sign off on the purchase of our retirement home in Southern
California. She was going on the trip with us and was finally going to be
able to have a big cage like I'd always wanted for her. And we were going
to get her a friend. In August we were up at the cottage we rent at
Clearlake every summer and she had a big playpen there and we bought her a
new wood house with a door and a round window in it which she loved. She
was able to be with the whole family those three weeks. I think it was
hard for her to come back home and be stuck alone in her little cage
again. But she had a few nice times when we got home. An "only piggie"
since beautiful Chinnie died last year, she was quite the picky eater. The
wheek before she passed, she had discovered half of little heirloom cherry
tomatoes which she happily and greedily devoured. And she spent a lot of
time sitting on her favorite purple furry blankie. We bought a used car
this summer and on the dashboard was a little monkey just her size. Dora,
as piggies do, always stayed under a shelf in her cage. One day I took the
monkey out of the car and put it in the middle of her cage. Next time I
walked by, Dora was out from under her shelf and sitting next to monkey.
So sweet. Monkey continued to be her BFF from that moment on. We buried
her in a sad and hasty funeral wrapped in her purple blankie with her
monkey friend. I am still very sad and actually tearful when I think of
her. But my next door neighbor said to me that I should not blame myself
or be sad, as it takes away from the happy memories we have of her, and I
know she is right. So I hope with this email to put those bad thoughts to
rest, and remember my Dora as the sweet little girl she was and the too
brief time that she was in our lives. It is so wonderful to have you
friends on the GPDD to turn to for support in times like these. Rest in
peace at the Rainbow Bridge, my dear little friend. We miss you very much.
--Mary Fran, very sadly, sans piggie