Checking out the room where I will speak.

Got into Orlando, checked in at the Gaylord Palms where I will be speaking tonight in the Sarasota Room (above) at 5:45 p.m. Vets are pouring in by the thousands, and several recognized me in the lobby. Got a nice gift – a leather case that holds an Ipad.

I’m looking forward to the talk. It will be especially interesting to get the vet’s perspective on grieving. I’ll share. I feel a particular kinship with vets, as I feel they and I are right on the fault lines of the explosion in emotion and feeling for companion animals in America. Perspective is important. Like many vets, I feel the people I work for – my readers – are sometimes in a different place than I am when it comes to issues like grieving and emotionalizing animal. I feel, as they do, that t is important to be somewhat detached and offer perspective and balance. I try not to succumb to the epidemic notion of animals as children or babies or ethereal beings who will romp with me in heaven for all eternity.

So it’s good to share some of these thoughts with the vets who deal with this more directly than I usually do. I’ll write about this later. Got to get some rest, as the day began in cold New York State at 2 a.m.