Okay, so I just finished reading a few of the entries from John Powers and I caught one from last week. I'm crying now.

Not out and out crying, mind you, but crying nonetheless. A few tears and a stuffed up nose.

This is the entry that brought it on... *sniffsniff*

Damn. It kills me to know that someone has to part with something they love. And not for some good reason like going on vacation for a few weeks, but simply because staying together is unhealthy.

Hell, I know how it is to be in a place where your beloved pet can not. But, fuck... that's just wrong.

Don't get me wrong here, I'm not saying that John Powers was wrong for having to release the pup to someone who had the room and time... I'm saying the necessity is wrong.

I think it would be better if John could take his pup to work with him. They have day-care centers for working parents in many companies... Why not a pet-care center???

Shouldn't that work? You could take your pet to work with you (unless it was something like a tiger or lion... those would be a little difficult to care for)... but still, you take the pet to work with you, you get to walk it into the day-care center and sit with it for half an hour or so until you really HAD to be at work.

Then, on breaks, you get to go to the day-care room and play with your pet. You can take lunch together, feeding your pet from your very own lunch.

HEY, don't laugh... I do that all the time.

Every single time I eat out, I bring SOMETHING back for Joey. And, if for some reason, I've forgotten to save him a bite, I will give him something special from the fridge. A slice of lunch meat... something.

Seriously though... I really think there should be some sort of pet-sitting service provided by our employers. Now-a-days, many people have pets instead of children. Or, they have pets because they can't have children yet.

There should be some sort of program... Hell, instead of an HMO plan, get a PCCP. Pet Care Center Plan.

For an additional fee per month, your pet will get a hot lunch. Perhaps freshly bottled Spring Water. Or, each of them can have a clean, pristene toilet to drink out of.

I don't know...

But there should be something.

Part of the reason I'm hoping to get this book sold, is cause I can't bear the thought of having to be seperated from Joey all damned day long. I just couldn't handle that.

Hell, the three hours or so every two or three days, that I leave to go write... that is bad enough.

It's totally and completely unfair that people can't take their pets to work and social events. Hell, I've met some pets that behave far better than children. AND, they're far less messy.

What about some ride-sharing thing where the pups get to have field trips to retirement centers? Ya know how they work... sometimes someone takes dogs and cats to a retirement center so that residents can have that healing, loving contact with another living being which will NEVER condemn them for anything.

I'm reminded of that commercial, I don't remember what it was for, but I think it was a dog food commercial.

That commercial where you see a bunch of different scenes of dogs with their owners. There are a couple cute lines of narrative, as if the dog's were actually thinking this stuff...

There's a scene, near the end of the commercial, where the pup is looking up at his person with love and adoration and the narrative says something akin to... "And I'll never bring up the time you came home smelling of that other dog..."

the final scene is of a guy driving in his car and the dog has his head out the window with the narrative saying, "As long as you roll down the window so I can pretend I'm flying."

I love that.

I went through the pound here in Long Beach. It has a "no-kill" policy which I eagerly agree with. They don't euthenize the pets unless they're diseased.

The adoption fee is something like 60 bucks.

And I want to go through and adopt them all. *smiles softly*

I remember the way my heart broke when Pepper was taken from me. That was ten years ago. I still miss her. I still cry about her.

She was seriously my best friend throughout the ten years I had her. Joey is incredible and awesome, and I love him dearly... but he's not Pepper.

Joey... *smiles tenderly* He does frustrate me sometimes. But he's the best. I love him dearly. And he never complains when I come home smelling of another dog. And he never complains when I don't let him pretend he's flying.

There is something so..... complete in the way a dog looks into your eyes. The way Joey just sits beside me, his head upon my thigh, his eyes looking into mine... *smiles tenderly*

I have to go give Joey some loves now...

Thanks for listening.

OH, and read John Powers