Marjorie sent me a message this morning, she said she is very sad each morning to not see a photo of Red in the morning, as she used to. “I can’t help it,” she said, I miss Red so much. Would you consider putting up photos of him in the morning?”

I’m afraid not.

I am sorry Marjorie feels sad but I thought about how I have shed most, if not all, of the drama in my life.

I wanted to be sensitive, but also honest.

I wrote back to Marjorie, and I said my idea for her was to take a photo of Red off of my blog – there must be thousands – and use one as a screen saver or print one out and hang it on the wall.

I said I couldn’t tell others what to do, but I decided some time ago to celebrate what I do have, not to miss or mourn what I don’t have. Perhaps this sounds cold, and if so, I’m sorry.

Like every person reading this, I’ve lost things in my life and gained things in my life. I respect life too much to provoke it by missing all the things, dogs, years and people that are gone.

But it’s what I feel. This morning, I took a photo of the Bedlam Farm Posse, three working dogs on fire to shoot out the door and start another day.

Looking at this crew of very different but all wonderful dogs, I wondered how selfish and narcissistic it would be of me to miss Red every morning when I have been blessed with Fate, Zinnia and Bud, three wonderful, loving and very different creatures.

I love them all and am blessed to have all three. As I’ve said perhaps too often, I would prefer to love dogs than miss or mourn them. Pain is inevitable in life, suffering is most often a choice.

The normal passing of life gives us plenty to feel sad about at times. I choose not to be selfish about it. I’m sorry, Marjorie I will be happy to send you a jpeg of Red to keep if you wish.

This afternoon, I’ve decided to go check on Susan Popper, she’s in my head now, and I am queasy at the thought of not seeing how she’s doing. Her brother wants to know, Donna wants to know, her friends want to know.

I’ll bring a book and some fresh apple cider donuts for the nurses. It’s worth a trip just to see the look on their faces when they see Zinnia and the donuts. My dog is all about brightening people’s days.

Bishop Maginn is closed this week, I’ll be seeing the folks at the Mansion Tuesday. Our scrubs campaign is stalled, we need to figure out how to sort out the orders. More later.