Loosing both of “The Girls” (my two white Standard Poodle liter mates) over a brief three months, the collapse of a great 25 year marriage over an equally short period because she went through classic mid-life crisis, and the death of all my childhood/teen friends by the age of 35, but nothing has effected me as much as the loss of Charites just nine months ago today. She was my soul mate, friend, buddy, and constant companion willing to do what ever I had on our agenda. So very much of the time during her tripawd journey, it was just the two of us together fighting this horrible diagnosis. She was a true “Daddy’s” girl, but never failed to great Emily with such great enthusiasm whenever Emily returned from class, church, shopping or what ever caused her to be away. Such greetings lift our spirits and are probably one of the things that we miss most. I may not cry myself to sleep every night any more, but you can count on your fingers the days that have not had long periods of meditation and streams of tears. I have been filled with a totally black debilitating depression since her loss. I apologize to this community for not being there as often as I should. I apologize to this community for not being the voice of positive thinking that is so very important while making this journey. Most of all, I apologize to Miss Cherry for being the kind of person that her memory deserves.

I am not being a snob when I say that Cassiopeia, Cassandra and Charites were extremely beautiful for Standard Poodles. Cassy and Sandy shared a grandmother with the dog that won the Westminster show when they were young ladies, and thanks to sperm bank technology, it appears that you only has to go back one more generation to link them with Cherry. Yes, all three appear to share a great-grandfather, and no, I was unaware when I brought Cherry home. It took me three years before I had sufficiently recovered from the loss of The Girls before I could bring Charites in to our home. I had fully expected that it would take every bit as much and seriously wondered if I would every have another. However, as fate would have it, we became aware of a white, female, Standard Poodle less than a year old in Orange County that needed a forever home. Nearly all do not allow adoption outside their area and we were told over and over again that she would be gone before I could make connection. Weeks would pass before we could “meet” this little girl and it really did seem that it was not going to happen. However, in the end it was the story of The Girls and Miss Cherry that showed them that this was a home that understood what having a Standard Poodle in the house would be. Standard Poodles require an extreme amount of time and resources. In the midst of a record breaking heat wave, we drove to Long Beach and returned with this addition to our family. I have come full circle now – my very first, Chrissy, was a mini poodle mix pound puppy, then there were the three just mentioned, and now I have once again adopted from a rescue organization. She may not have started with the genes of my other three Standards, but the love in her heart is every bit as big and that is really where the real beauty lies. Even now as she lays here beside me, I ask myself just what I have done, but I know that her story just nudged me down the path of recovery.

She is presently called Avvy and I have often though of registering my next Corinthia but perhaps Artemis (also known as the Roman goddess Diana), the Greek goddess of light and protector of the vulnerable may be better. She will become the candle in the blackness of my present life. Tomorrow she we celebrate her first birthday in a Forever Home.

You can meet Avvy at http://www.petf.....5816?rvp=1. Any more photos will wait until I get the mess of a coat in order, but the rescue organization did an excellent job of getting her this far along.