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 your young new friend. The second day will occur eight or nine or ten years later. It will be a day like any other. the third day arrives. And on this day, if your friend and God have not decided for you, you will be faced with making a decision 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 Living Love. Like the heavenly scent of a rose that remains after the pedals 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 we will always possess.