Dear So and So

[OakLeaf]

Dear feral dogs who showed up at our house last year and would not leave, no matter how long it had been since your last meal - who would not be trapped, no matter how delectable the bait - and who would not be tamed, no matter how often you ate from our hands or how curious you were about our comings and goings -

It's true, for most of the past 15 months I wished you would just leave, and now that you're gone, I wish you would come back.

I feel guilty about leaving for a long weekend, even though I topped your food dishes up extra tall and left an extra water dish, even though you'd been "home" alone for that long before, in worse weather.

I know better than to hope that you might be safe someplace else. So with two wishes I will try to let go of you: that whatever happened to you was quick; and that in puppy-dog heaven you will finally experience reciprocal love for someone other than each other.

[Becky]

Geez Oak, that's heartbreaking! I'm sorry, and thank you for all that you did for them.

[indysteel]

((((Oak)))). As someone who had grown attached to her "own" feral animals, I know I'm in risky emotional territory myself and appreciate how you must feel. You did what you could for these animal--and more than a lot of people would have. Hopefully they're in a better place now.