If you live with animals and love them, you will know loss and grief, and more than once. None of them live as long as we do, and to love them is to feel the sting of their loss. The Quakers taught me when I was young to celebrate life, not just mourn it, and that was a valuable lesson for me to learn, as we will all lose our dogs and cats and horses in our lives, and many of the people we love as well.

My wish for Josie is that she celebrates the life of Chyna, a draft horse (above) who is having trouble walking. She also said goodbye to Buford, a horse who was so lucky to end up in Blue Star after nearly starving to death. Every day of his life was a good day for him, filled with good food, much love, the best health care and medicine. If not for Blue Star he would have died a hard death a long time ago. As it happened, he fell into the loving hands of people like Josie, who has cared for Buford for much of her young life.