# if it should be



## fallinstar (Nov 26, 2006)

If it should be....

If it should be that I grow frail and weak,
and pain should keep me from my sleep,
then you must do what must be done,
for we know this last battle can't be won.

You will be sad, I understand,
but don't let grief then stay your hand,
for this day, more than the rest,
your love and friendship must stand the test.

We've had so many happy years,
what is to come can hold no fears.
Would you want me to suffer? So,
when the time comes, please let me go.

Take me where my needs they'll tend,
only stay with me until the end,
and hold me firm and speak to me,
until my eyes no longer see.

It is a kindness that you do to me,
although my tail it's last has waved,
from pain and suffering I have been saved.

Do not grieve, it should be you,
who must decide this thing to do.
We've been so close, we two these years,
Don't let your heart hold any tears.


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## Nazarath (Feb 20, 2007)

*tear* Beautiful  very creative fallin . *big hugs*


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## fallinstar (Nov 26, 2006)

i didnt write it its in out vets  found it n thought ov u n holly tho!


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## twitch (Jan 4, 2007)

that is beautiful. it had me tearing up and i don't do that easily. do you know who wrote it?


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## Sky14 (Aug 18, 2006)

Nice.


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## Forensic (Apr 12, 2007)

twitch said:


> that is beautiful. it had me tearing up and i don't do that easily. do you know who wrote it?


Just searching the internet it seems to be most commonly cited as 'anonymous', sometimes as Julia Napier and sometimes as Donald Bell. :?


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## fallinstar (Nov 26, 2006)

yeah most places say anonymous! it still makes me cry so soz if i upset ppl, it was the last thing i read 2 daisy beford the vet took her 2 ratty heaven


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## OnlyOno (Apr 4, 2007)

there was something i read like that at our local animal shelter, makes me cry everytime. it's a list of the things you should do for you animal, and the one that has stuck with me all these years is that you should always be there for your animal at the end. don't let the vet just take him to the back to put him down; it may be hard for you, but it's the very end for your pet, and you need to be there to help them. you'll recover, but they will die, and you giving them up will be the last thing they know and don't understand. 

not to be a downer, so fallingstar, that was beautiful. :')


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## JennieLove (Jan 2, 2007)

Thats very beautiful! Makes me very sad becuase in a weak or so we may have to put down my oldest friend who has been with me ever since I was born (20 years now) Sammy my kitty cat. :'(


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## fallinstar (Nov 26, 2006)

aww jennie im so sorry for your loss my cat had to be put down last year a week before daisy n i had had my cat lucy since i was 3


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## JennieLove (Jan 2, 2007)

Awww, yeah we are going to keep her with us as long as she is feeling alright, but when it looks like she is having a hard time and her quality of life isnt getting any better, we are going to put her down. I would rather her go like that then let her suffer. I'm just going to miss her when that day comes. I already planned that when she does pass, my first tattoo is going to be dedicated to her.


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

That poem is lovely and was originally made for dogs who have left us.
rat story, but its a long one. Be prepared. I don't know many people who do not cry with this one. I myself always Choose Tears.

_Choices
by Anne Kolaczyk
February 5, 1998

The little orange boy stopped. Behind him, ratties were playing, chasing each other and wrestling in the warm sunshine. It looked like so much fun, but in front of him, through the clear stillness of the pond's water, he could see his mommy. And she was crying.

He pawed at the water, trying to get at her, and when that didn't work, he jumped into the shallow water. All that got him was wet, and Mommy's image danced away in the ripples. "Mommy!" he cried.

"Is something wrong?"

The little orange boy turned around. A lady was standing at the edge of the pond, her eyes sad but filled with love. The little orange boy sighed and walked out of the water. "There's been a mistake," he said. "I'm not supposed to be here." He looked back at the water. It was starting to still again and his mommy's image was coming back. "I'm just a baby. Mommy said it had to be a mistake. She said I wasn't supposed to come here yet."

The kind lady sighed and sat down on the grass. The little orange boy climbed into her lap. It wasn't Mommy's lap, but it was almost as good. When she started to pet him and scratch behind his ears like he liked, he started to chitter and chatter and grind his teeth in happiness. He hadn't wanted to, but he couldn't help it. "I'm afraid there is no mistake. You are supposed to be here, and your mommy knows it deep down in her heart." the lady said.

The little orange boy sighed and laid his head on the lady's leg. "But she's so sad. It hurts me to see her cry. And Daddy too."

"But they knew right from the beginning this would happen."

"That I was sick?" That surprised the little orange boy. No one had ever said anything and he had listened when they thought he was sleeping. All he had heard them talk about was how cute he was or how fast he was or how big he was getting.

"No, not that you were sick," the lady said. "But you see, they chose tears."

"No, they didn't," the little orange boy argued. "Who would choose to cry?"

The lady gently brushed the top of his head with a kiss. It made him feel safe and loved and warm-but he still worried about his mommy. "Let me tell you a story," the lady said.

The little orange boy looked up and saw other animals gathering around.

Cats--Big Boy and Snowball and Shamus and Abby and little Cleo and Robin. Merlin and Toby and Iggy and Zachary. Sweetie and Kamatte and Obie.

Dogs too--Sally and Baby and Morgan and Rocky and Belle. Even a lizard named Clyde and some rats named Saffron and Becky and a hamster named Odo. They all lay down near the kind lady and looked up at her, waiting.

She smiled at them and began:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A long long time ago, the Loving Ones went to the Angel in Charge. They were lonesome and asked the angel to help them.

The angel took them to a wall of windows and let them look out the first window at all sorts of things-dolls and stuffed animals and cars and toys and sporting events.

"Here are things you can love," the angel said. "They will keep you from being lonesome."

"Oh, thank you," the Loving Ones said. "These are just what we need."

"You have chosen Pleasure," the angel told them.

But after a time the Loving Ones came back to the Angel in Charge. "Things are okay to love," they said, "but they don't care that we love them."

The Angel in Charge led them over to the second window. It looked out at all sorts of wild animals. "Here are animals to love," he said. "They will know you love them."

So the Loving Ones hurried out to care for the wild animals. "You have chosen Satisfaction," the angel said.

Some of the Loving Ones worked at zoos and wild animal preserves, some just had bird feeders in their yards, but after a time they all came back to the Angel in Charge.

"They know we love them," they told the angel, "but they don't love us back. We want to be loved in return."

So the angel took them to the third window and showed them lots of people walking around, hurrying places. "Here are people for you to love," the angel told them. So the Loving Ones hurried off to find other people to love. "You have chosen Commitment," the angel said.

But after a time a lot of Loving Ones came back to the Angel in Charge. "People were okay to love," they said, "but sometimes they stopped loving us and left. They broke our hearts."

The angel just shook his head. "I cannot help you." he said. "You will have to be satisfied with the choices I gave you."

As the Loving Ones were leaving, someone saw a window off to one side and hurried to look out. Through it, they could see puppies and kittens and dogs and cats and lizards and hamsters and ferrets. The other Loving Ones hurried over. "What about these?" they asked.

But the angel just tried to shoo them away. "Those are Personal Empathy Trainers," he said, "but there's a problem with their system operations."

"Would they know that we love them?" someone asked.

"Yes," the angel said.

"Would they love us back?" another asked.

"Yes." the angel said.

"Will they stop loving us?" someone else asked.

"No," the angel admitted. "They will love you forever."

"Then these are what we want." the Loving Ones said.

But the angel was very upset. "You don't understand," he told them. "You will have to feed these animals."

"That's all right," the Loving Ones said.

"You will have to clean up after them and take care of them forever."

"We don't care."

The Loving Ones did not listen. They went down to where the Pets were and picked them up, seeing the love in their own hearts reflected in the animals' eyes.

"They were not programmed right," the angel said. "We can't offer a warranty. We don't know how durable they are. Some of their systems malfunction very quickly, others last a long time."

But the Loving Ones did not care. They were holding the warm little bodies and finding their hearts so filled with love that they thought they would burst. "We will take our chances." they said.

"You do not understand." The angel tried one more time. "They are so dependent on you that even the most well-made of them is not designed to outlive you. You are destined to suffer their loss."

The Loving Ones looked at the sweetness in their arms and nodded. "That is how it should be. It is a fair trade for the love they offer."

The angel just watched them all go, shaking his head. "You have chosen Tears." he whispered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So it is," the kind lady told the animals, "and so each mommy and daddy knows. When they take a baby into their heart, they know that one day it will leave them, and they will cry."

The little orange boy sat up. "So why do they take us in?" he asked.

"Because even a moment of your love is worth years of pain later."

"Oh." The little orange boy got off the lady's lap and went back to the edge of the pond. His mommy was still there and still crying. "Will she ever stop crying?" he asked the kind lady.

She nodded. "You see, the Angel felt sorry for the Loving Ones, knowing how much they would suffer. He couldn't take the tears away but he made them special."

She dipped her hand into the pond and let the water trickle off her fingers. "He made them healing tears, formed from the special water here. Each tear holds bits of all the happy times of snuggling and petting and shared love. And the promise of love once again. As your mommy cries, she is healing.

"In time, she will be less sad and she will smile when she thinks of you. And then she will open her heart again to another little baby."

"But then she will cry again one day," the little orange boy said.

The lady just smiled at him as she got to her feet. "No, she will love again. That is all she will think about." She picked up Big Boy and Snowball and gave them hugs, then scratched Morgan's ear just how she liked.
"Look," she said, "the butterflies have come. Shall we go over to play?"

The other animals all ran ahead, but the little orange boy wasn't ready to leave his mommy. "Will I ever get to be with her again?"

The kind lady nodded. "You'll be in the eyes of every rattie she looks at. You'll be in the brux and boggle of every rat she pets. And late at night, when she's fast asleep, your spirit will snuggle up close to her and you both will feel at peace. One day soon, you can even send her a rainbow to tell her you're safe and waiting here for when it's her turn to come."

"I would like that." the little orange boy said and took one long look at his mommy. He saw her smile slightly through her tears, and he knew she had remembered the time he almost fell into the bathtub.

"I love you, Mommy," he whispered. "It's okay if you cry." He glanced over at the others, running and playing and laughing with the butterflies. "Uh, Mommy? I gotta go play now, okay? But I'll be around, I promise."

Then he turned and raced after the others._


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## fallinstar (Nov 26, 2006)

JennieLove said:


> Awww, yeah we are going to keep her with us as long as she is feeling alright, but when it looks like she is having a hard time and her quality of life isnt getting any better, we are going to put her down. I would rather her go like that then let her suffer. I'm just going to miss her when that day comes. I already planned that when she does pass, my first tattoo is going to be dedicated to her.



omg jennie i feel evil now i just scanned thu ur other post and thought u sed u had lost her im so sorry i hope she fights wat is wrong with her but if worst comes to worst (i hope to God it doent) then we r all here for you i feel so bad for miss reading your post  hope all is ok


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## fallinstar (Nov 26, 2006)

ok that is really upsetting lilspaz68 its mad its made me cry real bad but its really sweet and touchs my heart  thanks for posting it


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

fallinstar said:


> ok that is really upsetting lilspaz68 its mad its made me cry real bad but its really sweet and touchs my heart  thanks for posting it


Call me Spaz or Shelagh (hugs)

I read it to my friend over the phone and we were both bawling...hehehe...everytime I read it, without fail, I cry.


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## fallinstar (Nov 26, 2006)

awww i hate it wen u find a story or poem that u love so much u have 2 keep reading it but you know it makes u cry !


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## dkirschling (Mar 20, 2007)

*cries*


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## JennieLove (Jan 2, 2007)

oh, its np at all...I have been visiting her everyday since I got the new, since I live with my BF right now. So far she is eating, drinking, talking *kitty language hehe) and moving around. My mom said that she has gained a tiny bit but not much. I might be moving back home, so I'm going to fatten her up if I can, maybe if we take it slow she will pull through.


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## fallinstar (Nov 26, 2006)

oh jennie good luck! is that the catty in ur displaypic?


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## Inesita (Feb 18, 2007)

Ah, that story made me cry! And the poem was beautiful.


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## New2rats (Oct 4, 2007)

OMG, put a warning on that thing would ya? It makes me sad, but tis a good story and a good poem. Reminds me of when my parents had my childhood pets put down they didn't even tell me first. All three, when their time came they just dropped them at the vet and walked away. If I had know, I would have been there to hold them till they passed. I'm sure the vet techs were better company than my parents would have been anyway. There's a reason I haven't talked to my parents in almost two years...


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