It looks as though today was open so I'm just going to jump in here.  I've been away from Kos during the primary wars and I know I won't be coming back regularly, but I sure need you all today.

My little Dark Angel, the happy dancer and mighty hunter, La Bella Tessa is gone and left us behind.

This diary was inspired by this comment from last week's diary.

I was struck by this observation:

"Also, there are some medical studies showing that people who write about their emotions (it doesn't matter whether anyone sees it or not) seem to be physically healthier than those who don't."

Hat tip to moneysmith, who has been doing plenty of writing.

Does this list sound familiar?

Denial
Anger
Bargaining
Depression
Acceptance

Yep, those are the stages of grief defined as by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross.  

It's been a few weeks since I volunteered to submit this week's entry.  Lots of time, you know, to write something brilliant -- or at least thoughtful.  And yet here I am, at the last minute, trying to put virtual pen to virtual paper.  

It's odd.  The words should be flowing from my fingers.  I should be able to describe this infiltrator in my life, and how it comes...

We are a family that loves our pets.  My first memory is of the day my dad brought home a dog he’d found wandering by the railroad tracks.  My Mom named her Tootsie, and her origins are a mystery to us.  She was young, an American Eskimo (long before the breed was recognized by the AKC) and – incredibly – she was spayed.  Back then, that was unheard of in our small rural community.   She was cute as a button, had the heart of a lion and was wicked smart.  Her loss, at the end my eighth grade year, was my first exposure to grief.

A while back I had a conversation with Ralph about the good media coverage the Miles campaign had been getting recently.  He was worried about the implications of this coverage.  Now I freely admit that I have long since given up my subscription to the Denver Post and rely on the internet for most of my news, but frankly I hadn't gotten the same impression.  

After the surprising results as Colorado's State Assembly this weekend I remembered that conversation and decided to do a little research.  As I went through this process I'm wondering if I have recently been missing the forest for the trees.

Anyway, not wanting to feel that I just wasted an afternoon looking this stuff up, I decided to post my first diary and share the fruits of my labor.