End of an Era

That's the headline on everything Brett Favre today - End of an Era. To watch the news broadcasts and interviews with fans, you would think that it was all one long eulogy at Brett's funeral. Hey folks, he's still alive and now gets to have fun in his life! Good for him!

What struck me as a sign though - Brett played 17 seasons and is retiring before his 18th. Moses was 17 years old, and would have been 18 some time in May or June (as a stray, all we could do was estimate.) Since Brett retired on the day that I had Moses put to sleep, that must mean I made the right decision, right?

Today was a very hard day for me though. I thought I was emotionally prepared to let go, but I pretty much cried the whole time Dr. Tom was here. In some ways I still wish Moses had died while I was gone at work or sometime in the night. No hard decision to make then. But the good thing about this was that I got to hold him the whole time. He hasn't been letting me hold him a whole lot for the last week or so, and I held him as close as I could and talked to him the whole time. It was a very peaceful thing for him, much more so than for me.

The hardest part of all was when Dr. Tom took him away. His body was still warm. He still felt alive to me as I held him. But his heart was done beating. He was gone. I felt some worry though as Dr. Tom wrapped him in a blanket to take Moses with him. What if he wakes up and is wrapped up? Max loves to be wrapped in a blanket, but Moses always hated being covered in any way. I know that the worry was senseless, but was still in my mind anyway. I just have to let that go though, like I let Moses go.

End of an era.... my first boy is gone. Thankfully Max is still a lovey-dovey boy because I'm going to need that for a while. Someday I'll get a new boy to take Moses' place, but not yet. Maybe I'll name him Brett. :)

Moses

Last night's concert seems so long ago already. Now it's back to reality. When I got home, it was amazing how much Moses had gone downhill even in those few hours I was gone. He's much weaker now, and sometimes when he walks his back legs give out and he falls over a little. We didn't have a very good night of sleep either.

It seemed every time I turned out the lights, Moses started crying. I think he just wanted to be able to see me, because when the light was on he was ok even if I was in bed. Finally after a couple of hours of him crying out for me, and me giving him a little more love he settled down enough for me to get some sleep, even with the light left on.

The good thing last night was that Moses & Max & I had some good bonding time. I took him onto the bed with me for a while, and Max came up too. He spent some time washing Moses' face and ears, before Moses moved back down to go back to the bathroom floor. So Max got to show him some love too. This morning, Moses came downstairs again briefly but he has no strength left.

Dr. Tom is coming over tomorrow afternoon to put him to sleep. Hard as it will be, it's time and I just want to see Moses at peace.

Piano Man

I can now die a happy woman. Last night I got to hear Billy Joel sing Piano Man live, and it was so awesome. He began solo on the song and his band came in shortly after, but he was never really solo. Fom the moment we heard those familiar first notes on the piano, the entire audience was singing along. I tell ya, I've never heard a congregation sing a hymn so loud and exuberantly, and without missing a word of the song. It was a very cool thing.

The whole concert was excellent. Billy may look a whole lot older, but his voice is still good and he's such a funny man - something I never knew about him. His demeanor with the audience was so comfortable and he just seemed to have a helluva lot of fun. He definitely did some personal appeals to this Milwaukee crowd too. Early in the show, he introduced one of his songs with the Beer Barrel Polka. Then later, while singing "In the Middle of the Night," the Harley influence broke in as Billy & the band broke out singing "Born to be Wild" and then went back to Billy's song after a stanza or two. So much fun!

I've also never seen a light show quite like that one. There were more spotlights in the BC than I've ever seen before, and they were choreographed well to the music - making it all come alive in a whole new way. The whole thing was just awesome, and was a very welcome distraction for me. Definitely at the top of the list of concerts I've been to.