Tripawds Three Legged Dog & Cat Forum Archives

Today marks seven years since our Jerry put on a set of wings. The time has flown as fast as the wind but his presence is stronger than ever in our hearts and in the community he founded.

The first days, months and even years of living without Jerry's wise old soul left us feeling lost and uncertain about our path in this world. Life seemed so much easier when he was around. During tough times, we only needed to look into Jerry's concerned brown eyes to feel grounded and remember the foolishness of worrying about things beyond our control, like the future. With Jerry's leadership, we were continuously reminded that the only thing that matters is the Here and Now.

As a master of living in the Now, Jerry's greatest lesson was getting us to understand one major law of the Universe: embrace change with open arms and roll with it. Like the oceans, the galaxies and everything in-between, the Universe is continuously growing, changing and expanding. Because we are part of the fabric from which the Universe is created, it's our destiny to do the same. Dwelling on the past and worrying about the future is pointless. All we have is today, so make the most of it.

Our Tripawd Hero Rides Shotgun

(as told by Jerry's Mom, Rene).

Seven years after his passing, Jerry still sends us subtle reminders to reinforce this lesson. Like last summer when our pack was simultaneously bombarded with several stressful events, Jerry took it upon himself to reiterate all that he'd taught us in his ten years on this planet because we obviously weren't remembering it. While fretting over our tough times during a road trip across the West, he sent us a series of rapid-fire hints that were so perfectly timed and appropriate, we couldn't deny that he was still along for the ride.

While driving from Colorado to the West Coast for work and play, we:

• hit some kind of big black bird with the RV
• endured a trailer tire blowout
• blew a gasket in our truck engine, which coated our rig in oil
• had trailer brake issues that resulted in a worthless “repair”
• experienced technical problems with our satellite Internet system

The expenses and stress were taking a toll as we approached a stretch of Wyoming highway that reminds us of our last precious weeks with Jerry. Seven years later, we found ourselves at the crossroads of a place in time when there was nothing more that could be done to fight the cancer that would separate our pack. The steel gray sky was as heavy as our hearts, our energy levels so low and our patience so thin, it felt like we had time-traveled back to those last uncertain days of Jerry's life.

As we drove along and listened to an audiobook of the Steven King novel “<a href="