My Life Has Changed (Again)

Well, my furry family has expanded once again. Over the years, my family has grown from just having Bunny to including several cats that had been strays in my neighborhood. At one point, I had five adult cats and four kittens, but I was eventually able to get it down to four adults, which seems like a manageable if not reasonable number of pets.

I've also cared for the dog and two cats belonging to my ex-husband David whenever he was in the hospital (which was more and more frequent). Last Sunday, Dave passed away. It was a shock to both me and my daughter. While he had on-going health issues, what caused his death was very sudden and unexpected.

I gathered up his dog and cats and took them to my house so they could begin to get settled. Then I began the long grueling process of preparing for his funeral. Although we have lived in Pittsburgh for over 20 years, we are originally from Central PA, and I wanted to have him buried at home.

We took the four hour trek home to be with our collective family (Dave’s family and my own) and endured what needed to be done over the next few days. Dave was buried alongside his mother and father. We are now back in Pittsburgh and will be preparing a memorial service in the next week so our friends, neighbors and co-workers can say goodbye to him.

It’s been a hard week, and I imagine that the next few months will be equally hard as I try to help my daughter deal with the loss of her father and help his pets settle into their new home. I will try to keep up with the blog, but I have no doubt that all these changes will affect how frequently I post.

I also have a feeling that I will be writing more about dogs and doggy issues. It’s been 12 years since I've had a dog, and I am definitely out of practice! I will most likely be asking my dog-owning friends for their help with health and behavioral issues.

So thank you to everyone who has been so supportive during this very difficult time. I appreciate everyone’s kind words, as well as their thoughts and prayers. I will still be around the blogosphere – just not quite as frequently.