We adopted Bessie 5 years ago just after her 10th birthday. She was the product of divorce and had moved from home to home of various family members for 7 years and no one in the family could continue to provide a loving home. She was set to be euthanized as a special needs senior with separation anxiety, and incontinence.

I picked her up in Clinton, CT on the way back from visiting a friend at Lake Hopatcong, NJ. It was a Sunday afternoon, that August 4th. Bessie was being tormented by the 5 year old, harried pregnant mom trying to give info and sign release papers. Poor girl trembled but never uttered a sound in the several hour trip to her temporary foster home.

We kept her for the requisite week and I still needed time to get her calm enough to be considered for adoption. We threw firsbees several times a day to get her moving and the incontinence cleared. With the loving stable environment, I weaned her off her doggie Prozac and my husband lost his heart and she came to be a member of the family with us keeping her rather than sending her on to another "forever home".

On Monday, she lost her battle with aging (deaf, blind, spinal degeneration and loss of the use of her hind legs) and Bessie crossed the Rainbow brige at 9:30 in the morning and now rests beneath the spreading dogwood tree in the back yard next to Hannah, her predessor in our home. My heart is sad but I know she is comfortable once again.