I got in touch with bonecancerdogs and they told me to come on down to their barbecue and memorial service.  It was supposed to rain all day today (all weekend really), but there wasn't a cloud in the sky!  Everyone was very kind and welcoming.  One woman just got up and bought me a bag of their stuff (tote bag, shirt, pen, etc. of bonecancerdog.com stuff – I did show her my Tripawd t-shirt under my long-sleeve shirt and she loved it).  Clearly, they're a generous, supportive group very much like ours. 

They have come up with a lot of creative ways of honoring their dogs year after year when they get together.  One woman showed me a necklace she made at last year's reunion in Portland.  It was one of those… fused glass, I think it's called, pieces and inside she included some of her dogs' ashes.  And then today, as part of their memorial service they did a Tibetan prayer flag thing, with a reading of names, and the names were on the flags.  They added Yoda too.

It was great of them and they couldn't have been nicer.  We chatted and I shared pictures of Yoda.  I met such a sweet tripawd Great Dane, named Dozer, and chatted with Dozer's dad a bit.  He and many others there were familiar with Tripawds.

Still, at least during the memorial ceremony, it didn't quite feel like I was really there.  I joked to my mom, who came along, that I was pretty sure Yoda saw the dog park across the access road and spent the whole time over there rather than attending the memorial service with us.  The entire park was gorgeous.  I knew it existed, but thought it was much further out of town, otherwise I would have taken Yoda to its dog park (you know, while he was still coporal).  Ah well, we did have like 5 other excellent parks much closer to home.  Madison is so cool in that respect.

With you all I would have been able to think more deeply about paying tribute to Yoda and letting the tears flow, but as great as these people were, I couldn't do so with them on this first meeting.  You all are familiar with Yoda's stories and quirks and I am familiar with those of your furry heroes as well.  It was very cool to get to see them connecting in that way though, acknowledging each others' dogs and their stories, with laughter and tears in person.

So, the moral to my post is get out to those tripawd pawties whenever you can!  It's very worth it.

Slightly off-topic – today I also happened to receive a gift in the mail from "The Oncology Group," Yoda's oncologist, at least one vet tech (I think), and a few other names I didn't recognize, but so many people there took care of him that there were many I never met.  Anyway, several of them signed a card, "In Loving Memory of Yoda."  They had taken a picture of him while he was at the hospital, the morning he was euthanized and given it to me after, but they also used the image for the card.  They also included a Collar Magnet  from Biting-Back.com, which raises money for veterinary cancer research and a donation was made in Yoda's honor.  The collar magnet is a miniture green collar fixed in the shape of a ribbon (green ribbon for veterinary cancer) and a tag with Yoda's name (which I could get engraved), attached to a magnet.  It was very sweet of them. 

Incidentally, the UW Vet clinic also offers to make a pawprint for people and I had said sure to that.  The folks from bonecancerdogs today told me that, when they had visited the UW Vet clinic, they were shown one being made or that had recently been made, something like that.  I believe I will be getting that as well as his ashes late this coming week, or early the next.

Alright, that's gotta be everything now.  Go pawty!