If you ever love an animal, there are three days
 in your life you will always remember...

The first is a day, blessed with happiness,
 when you bring home your young new friend.
You may have spent weeks deciding on a breed.
 You may have asked numerous opinions of many vets
 or done long research in finding a breeder.
 Or, perhaps in a fleeting moment,
 you may have just chosen that silly
 looking mutt in a shelter--simple because
 something in its eyes reached your heart
 But when you bring that chosen
 pet home, and watch it explore,
 and claim its special place in your hall
 or front room--and when you feel it
 brush against you for the first time--
it instills a feeling of pure love you
 will carry with you through
 the many years to come.

The second day will occur eight or nine
 or ten years later. It will be a day
 like any other. Routine and unexceptional
. But, for a surprising instant, you
 will look at your longtime friend
 and see age where you once saw youth.
 You will see slow deliberate steps
 where you once saw energy. And
 you will see sleep where you once saw
 activity. So you will begin to adjust your
 friend's diet--and you may add a
 pill or two to her food. And you
 may feel a growing fear deep within yourself,
 which bodes of a coming emptiness.
 And you will feel this uneasy feeling,
 on and off, until the third day finally arrives.

And on this day--if your friend and
 God have not decided for you,
 then you will be faced with making
 a decision of your own--on
 behalf of your lifelong friend, and
 with the guidance of your own deepest Spirit
 But whichever way your friend
eventually leaves you---you will
 feel as alone as a single star in the dark night.

If you are wise, you will let the
 tears flow as freely and as often as
 they must. And if you are typical,
 you will find that not many in your
 circle of family or friends will be 
able to understand your grief,
 or comfort you.

But if you are true to the love
 of the pet you cherished through
 the many joy-filled years,
 you may find that a soul
--a bit smaller in size than your own---
seems to walk with you, at times,
 during the lonely days to come.

And at moments when you least expect
 anything our of the ordinary to
 happen, you may feel something
 brush against your leg--very very lightly.

And looking down at the place
 where your dear, perhaps dearest,
 friend used to lay---you will
 remember those three significant days.
The memory will most likely be painful,
 and leave an ache in your heart---
As time passes the ache will come 
and go as it has a life of its own.
 You will both reject it and embrace it,
 and it may confuse you. If you 
reject it, it will depress you. If you embrace it,
 it will deepen you. Either way,
 it will still be an ache.

But there will be, I assure you,
 a fourth day when
---along with the memory of your pet---
and piercing through the heaviness
 in your heart---there will come
 a realization that belongs only to you.
 It will be as unique and strong as
 our relationship with each animal 
we have loved, and lost. This
 realization takes the form of a
 Living Love---like the heavenly scent
 of a rose that remains after the petals
 have wilted, this Love will remain
 and grow--and be there for us
 to remember. It is a love we have earned.
 It is the legacy our pets leave us
 when they go. And it is a gift we
 may keep with us as long as we live.
 It is a Love which is ours alone.
 And until we ourselves leave, 
perhaps to join our Beloved Pets--
it is a Love that we will always possess.

-Written by Martin Scot Kosins