I'm so deeply sorry to hear of your loss...my thoughts and prayers go out to you and your family.

Also, this is a very beautiful image and a touching tribute.

Thank you so much for your prayers, it has been a struggle this holiday season, but he would want us to enter the new year with our heads up and our humor intact! I keep trying to remember that, but the sense of loss is still so fresh...and to think it has been a couple years since we had really done anything together, so I feel a little unfulfilled...like there is a void in my life that I will never have a chance to fill again...it is true what they say about making the most of our time together whether we are angry or just separated by miles of space...you never know what's going to happen or when, so make the best of your time with loved ones.

He was my step brother, but I took him in whole heartedly as a sibling regardless...sure we fought, but what mixed family doesn't, if even just a little? I feel horrible that I wasn't able to go to our family's Thanksgiving this year, since my Fiancee had to work and it was a 4 hour drive away to get there and back...no time off either... that would have been the last time we would have seen him, and now I can't anymore. I was numb at first, then at the viewing (STILL creepy no matter what anyone tells me) it was everything I could do to look at his gray and cold form, especially when he was always SO bright and enthusiastic about just about everything. It's like you feel like he could wake up at any second and yell "Just Kidding!" or "Psyche!" and then you could slap him and feel better....

He sure grew into a handsome guy too...I feel a little wierd saying that, but he was a dang good looking guy once he shed his baby fat and grew some handsome muscles! He was just such a joy if you were down or blue, he was a true pick-me-upper. He had a constant crooked smile when he wanted something, and the dimples he inherited from his dad only emphasised that...when things were tough and I wanted to leave or quit at something he was there trying to make me see the positive (which usually <> am the one that is the optimist, it was kind of a balancer me for him, him for me etc)...he impacted me in a LOT of ways and I never really noticed until he was gone...BUT KEEP smiling he'd say, keep your head up, things will get better...don't worry be happy *enter a crooked Seth smile here, while imitating a silly rubber Bass fish on a wall***.

It helps to talk about it, even to my online artistic family...so thank you for commenting and lending an ear.

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HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF MONA*VIE? ARE YOU RUNNING IN A RAT RACE WITH NO CHEESE IN SIGHT? OPEN THE LOTTERY IN A BOTTLE FOR YOUR HEALTH AND WEALTH!

!!!!ASK*ME*HOW*I*DARE*YA!!!!

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I'm so sorry...it seems everyone I know has lost something this Christmas... I will pray

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Be yourself...everyone else is already taken!

It's been tough because I also lost two of my fur babies at the end of last year. They are like my kids and so Seth's death added to that in a way. My little Pomeranian, Pixel, was poisoned by someone in my neighborhood just before she turned 12 weeks old--she was just so small that the amount of antifreeze she ate killed her. The *expletive, expletive, expletive* moron who did it still remains at large. They were also adding small amounts of antifreeze to my other 7 dog's water in their kennel sometime after I brought them inside for the night that same week. I smelled something funny in their water, as well as noticed an unusual green color the following morning and I emptied their water out and cleaned their water bucket (an 8 gallon horse-feed pail), but I think the poisoning attempts had continued for at least a week and when it didn't work in the kennel they put it in the yard where Pixel happened to find it. It took two days for her to pass away from seizures, kidney failure and a coma...and I was actually at a loss as to what it was that was wrong with her, asuming something like parvo or distemper...but I knew after her first seizure when she went into a catatonic state that the Vet would only charge me money to tell me what I already knew was inevitable. What keyed me in on Antifreeze is that the same night she died, my neighbor's Mini Schnauzer came down with the same symptoms, but in the earlier stages...when they rushed him to the Vet he peed antifreeze. Luckily he lived, but his symptoms were EXACTLY like Pixel's, but I didn't find her in time before her first seizure as she was in her crate while I was at work...I had been beating myself up for two days because I thought it was something I caused or could have prevented...when I found her after work that first night she had peed all over herself (which in retrospect after Mater fell ill, smelled like diluted antifreeze) and she was limp as a rag doll and not all there. The following morning she snapped out of it for about 8-10 hours and was acting more normal, but had another huge siezure and went into a coma and died later that night.

I have my suspiscions as to who did it, but no PROOF...you can bet your sweet monkeys when I DO have any proof, that person will experience an obcene psychotic episode on my part...my neighbor says that now, since Mater survived, when he sees our common back door neighbor he goes COMPLETELY INSANE, growling, barking, frothing at the mouth, lunging at the end of his leash...when he NEVER acted like that before when he saw that person! Guaging Mater's behavior and a few remarks made by this person about "finding antifreeze in the landlord's sprinkling system for the trees" (TOTAL BS, SINCE I HAVE NO TREES OR SPRINKLER SYSTEM IN MY YARD!!!) So I am pretty sure it's him, but still no proof to convict him...

To compound things....

Then one of my pups from my Dane's litter last year strangled herself New Year's Eve (she was owned by the same people who own Mater, two houses down from me) a FREAK accident, but it would have NEVER been an issue if we didn't have to briefly tie out our dogs or take them for walks in order to potty when we can't even allow them to play in OUR own yards! It's ENFURIATING!

SOOO...thanks for the support, I lost Pixel November 1st at 6:00 PM, then we lost Seth early morning December 14th, then Zuemey on December 31...so let me PRAY for a much better year this year!
At least Seth is there now to take care of Pixel and Zuemey in Heaven, since all dogs go to heaven... *tears*

Thanks for lending an ear and some support, it helps a lot!

--
HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF MONA*VIE? ARE YOU RUNNING IN A RAT RACE WITH NO CHEESE IN SIGHT? OPEN THE LOTTERY IN A BOTTLE FOR YOUR HEALTH AND WEALTH!

!!!!ASK*ME*HOW*I*DARE*YA!!!!

[link]

Aw jeese! It seems everybody has lost a pet, though not as crudely as yours have been lost...Sometimes people don't make sense to me...I lost my cat OJ to diabetes...I couldn't afford the insulin so the vet gave him another month when he was first diagnosed. It's been a year and a half. The vet told us that we would know when it was time for him to go because he wouldn't eat and he would be disinterested in everything. She didn't know OJ very well and the strong bond between us. About a week ago he stopped eating, but came to me and sat with me and purred. I knew He was ready so I called for an appointment to put him down but he died the next day before the appointment. Needless to say the vet was amazed it was the same cat and told me he shouldn't have lived beyond that month she gave us...My friend lost her fox terrior by a sudden sickness...and then later her chihuahua, Bubba, had to be put down because he was so depressed and he stopped eating and the vet told her it was too late.

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Be yourself...everyone else is already taken!

My deepest condolences. This is obviously a lovingly made tribute. Beautifully done.