Misha and Furkids mom....Oh, for a pill to take to help lessen the pain!

THE JOURNEY

by Crystal Ward Kent

When you bring a pet into your life, you begin a journey � a journey that will bring you more love and devotion than you have ever known, yet also test your strength and courage.

If you allow, the journey will teach you many things, about life, about yourself, and most of all, about love. You will come away changed forever, for one soul cannot touch another without leaving its mark.

Along the way, you will learn much about savoring life�s simple pleasures � jumping in leaves, snoozing in the sun, the joy of puddles, and even the satisfaction of a good scratch behind the ears.

If you spend much time outside, you will be taught how to truly experience every element, for no rock, leaf or log will go unexamined, no rustling bush will be overlooked, and even the very air will be inhaled, pondered, and noted as being full of valuable information. Your pace may be slower � except when heading home to the food dish � but you will become a better naturalist, having been taught by an expert in the field.

Too many times we hike on automatic pilot, our goal being to complete the trail rather than enjoy the journey. We miss the details � the colorful mushrooms on the rotting log, the honeycomb in the old maple snag, the hawk feather caught on a twig. Once we walk as a dog does, we discover a whole new world. We stop; we browse the landscape; we kick over leaves, peek in tree holes, look up, down, all around. And we learn what any dog knows: that nature has created a marvelously complex world that is full of surprises, that each cycle of the seasons brings ever-changing wonders, each day an essence all its own.

Even from indoors you will find yourself more attuned to the world around you. You will find yourself watching summer insects collecting on a screen (How bizarre they are! How many kinds there are!), or noting the flicker and flash of fireflies through the dark. You will stop to observe the swirling dance of windblown leaves, or sniff the air after a rain. It does not matter that there is no objective in this; the point is in the doing, in not letting life�s most important details slip by.

You will find yourself doing silly things that your pet-less friends might not understand: spending thirty minutes in the grocery aisle looking for the cat food brand your feline must have, buying dog birthday treats, or driving around the block an extra time because your pet enjoys the ride. You will roll in the snow, wrestle with chewie toys, bounce little rubber balls till your eyes cross, and even run around the house trailing your bathrobe tie � with a cat in hot pursuit � all in the name of love.

Your house will become muddier and hairier. You will wear less dark clothing and buy more lint rollers. You may find dog biscuits in your pocket or purse, and feel the need to explain that an old plastic shopping bag adorns your living room rug because your cat loves the crinkly sound.

You will learn the true measure of love � the steadfast, undying kind that says, �It doesn�t matter where we are or what we do, or how life treats us as long as we are together.� Respect this always. It is the most precious gift any living soul can give another. You will not find it often among the human race.

And you will learn humility. The look in my dog�s eyes often made me feel ashamed. Such joy and love at my presence. She saw not some flawed human who could be cross and stubborn, moody or rude, but only her wonderful companion. Or maybe she saw those things and dismissed them as mere human foibles, not worth considering, and so chose to love me anyway.

If you pay attention and learn well, when the journey is done, you will not be just a better person, but the person your pet always knew you to be � the one they were proud to call beloved friend.

I must caution you that this journey is not without pain. Like all paths of true love, the pain is part of loving. For as surely as the sun sets, one day your dear animal companion will follow a path you cannot yet go down. And you will have to find the strength and love to let them go. A pet�s time on earth is far too short � especially for those that love them. We borrow them, really, just for awhile, and during those brief years they are generous enough to give us all of their love � every inch of their spirit and heart, until one day there is nothing left.

The cat that only yesterday was a kitten is all too soon old and frail and sleeping in the sun. The young pup of boundless energy wakes up stiff and lame, the muzzle now gray. Deep down we somehow always knew this journey would end. We knew that if we gave our hearts they would be broken. But give them we must for it is all they ask in return. When the time comes, and the road curves ahead to a place we cannot see, we give one final gift and let them run on ahead � young and whole once more.

�Godspeed, good friend,� we say, until our journey comes full circle and our paths cross again.

The messages you are viewing are archived/old.
To view latest messages and participate in discussions, select the boards given in left menu

what helped me was to eat less sugar and take lots of vitamin C and get a good B complex. I eat LESS sugar, but I haven't cut out sugar altogether. I love chocolate too much. I just pace myself and that does seem to help. Stress is a HUMOGOUS factor with people who have fibromyalgia. Get the stress level down quickly. There's good stress and bad stress. What I'm talking about is the bad stress. Examples might be family conflict, extreme money problems, things you don't like doing but feel forced to do. If you're in a job you hate, keep the job, but start looking for something else and make the change. If you're in a rotten relationship, take steps to make it better or get out. Got a kid who is constantly on your last nerve. Take the upper hand and get that kid in shape and if they're old enough, tell them to get a job and get their own place. These are just examples, but it's not an instant fix. You'll have to help yourself in other ways in the meantime, like treating your body right by eating healthier and taking good supplements. Give yourself a tentative calendar goal and try to reach that goal with your life changes. Be realistic. Don't tell yourself you're going to change your relationship in 2 weeks, cuz it ain't gonna happen. Again, these are just some examples. Your life stressors may be completely different, but you get the picture. Scheduling yourself is very important and make room for fibro flares, cuz they will happen. Doctors are not generally sympathetic to the illness though some are coming around and rheumatologies are more helpful these days. They put me on NSAIDS, which only made matters worse. They put me on anti-depressants and that was a bad move, too. I go to a naturopath who on a daily basis deals with fibromyalgia patients. Not all naturopaths are good with fibro patients, though and insurance does not pay for my naturopath though we do have a flexible spending account that I use. Other supplements that I take are Omega (fish, NOT flax, there is a difference in how it works for fibro patients), Vitamin E, Barley formula made by Global DNA (it has stuff in it that regular barley does not), magnesium (extremely important for fibro patients), licorice paste (tastes awful by itself, put it in tea with honey). One other thing, a lot of fibro patients have low DHEA. You can get this tested by a naturopath who will give you what I call a spit test. You spit in a few vials over a period of a few days, freezing each vial until all are ready to go and then they are sent to a lab and analyzed. If your DHEA level is low (mine was nearly nonexistent), then you can take a supplement called BioSom, which is a sublingual spray.

I know it's a lot of stuff, BUT now that I'm to baseline and only have an occasional flare a couple, maybe a few times a year, it's WELL worth taking the daily supplements.

Please, no posts about declawing. I would never do that!! I have brand new furniture and right now it is covered with sheets, blankets and the like, delivered yesterday, living room full of leather at that (along with new dining room, 10 new chairs that have cloth seats). I tried the scratching posts, I tried the bad smelling stuff they sell at the pet stores, I tried the water bottle (that is effective as long as in the same room), but I want to know who has tried the cat nails and if they work. I want to enjoy the beauty of my furniture and I love my kids! I would never damage those indoor babies but I want to look at my furniture also. Are the nails hard to put on. HELP!!

I was also taking this med for weight loss. At one time it was a combo of two drugs, they called them ... �Fen-phen� diet pills. Although I did not take the combo I took the one you were inquiring about. It made me very jumpy, but also brought out an underlying condition (diagnosed by the same doc I got the pills from), and messed up my metabolism, as well as give me High blood pressure, due to the damage the pill had caused, the two issues I have cannot be reversed and I have been living with them since that time. Mind you, this was about 12 to 15 years ago when the combo came out. My advice is this, do your research, talk to the docs, read, read, read, and then if you think that you will be able to work with the side effects, and the benfits outweigh the risk, you should do what you feel is right for you.

Yes I did lose the weight, about 60 pounds at that time but like one other person stated I gained back plus 80. It is like a HYPER drug for your metabolism. Please be careful and good luck.

regardless of the type of person ANS was......she still had people who loved her, had pain and misfortune in her life, grew up from nothing and tried to make something of herself, but had a type-A addictive personality...........MANY people are like that and you'd be surprised in one's own family how many people are like this...........

look in the mirror lately? I wouldn't point a finger at anybody's life....we ALL have our stories, now don't we?

judge not lest ye be judged (bibles all say this) and/or don't judge until you've walked a mile in someone else's shoes..............

Congratulations on your first night with him! They just love to test their boundaries don't they?! Glad to hear you weren't havin' any of that...sometimes it really throws folks. I know I sure can be intimitated at times by strange animals.

I also crate too, much to the shagrin of PETA-like folks. It is a wonderful tool and every night when we get ready for bed I say, "In the hut" and the two little guys go RUNNING in there to play with all their toys and each other in their little den. They absolutely love it and are only locked in it for the night so I can guarantee there won't be any accidental pee/poop when we all rise-n-shine in the morning. During the day I leave their door open to the crate and they still go in there just to hang out and play with the stuff in there or just take naps together. Darndest thing.

Feel free to e-mail me again if you have any pictures you want to share with us...I'd be more than happy to post them for you!

I'm glad the time changed. Longer days, more sunshine! LOL I'm ready for the new season... Would love to do some clothes shopping!