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I received this email from my friend Jasmine. I hope you enjoy it.

Hello again Bandit,

Jasmine here. How was your Christmas? Mine was very good. I slept most of the day. As I always do. Santa brought me a bowl to plant grass in. I hope Mommie gets those seed into the soil and lets it start growing so I can eat it. I love to eat grass. Every time I get to go outside, which is not often, I eat a little grass. Most of the time, I end up throwing it back up on Mommie’s carpet or worse yet, on her bed. But I still like to eat it.

I am so happy now, my Mommie is staying home with me every day. She does not get up and go to work for hours and hours any more. I used to have to stay by myself all the time. But then Grandpa and Dori and Buttons stayed with me for a long long time. Now, Mommie is home every day, I can talk to her and rub against her leg any time I feel like it. Mommie and Grandpa were gone for a long stay at the hospital and the rehab place. Mommie did not even come home to sleep. Just to give me and Dori and Buttons some food. Now Grandpa is home again and stays in his bed most of the time. I heard him say that he is getting better. I sure hope so. I hate for Mommie to stay at the hospital all the time with him. I miss her when she does not come home. We have strange people coming in our house now to help Grandpa walk and to check his vitals??? but I stay hid in our bedroom when they come in. I am so quiet that they do not even know I am in the house. Not so with Buttons and Dori, they bark and bark and bark. All that barking makes me very nervous.

Any way, I am glad that you had a very nice Christmas and say hello to your family for me. I will try and get Mommie to let me send you more of these email things another time.
By for now
Jasmine

I caught mom crying last night. I wanted to ask her why but didn’t know how. I think it must have had something to do with Katy, my Golden Retriever sister; she’s not here anymore. She died right after her 16th birthday in July of this year. I heard mom mention Katy’s name to dad, and then mom got all sad.

I remember Katy; she was so nice. She never growled, bit, or bullied anybody. She was practically perfect in all that she did. When I first got here, she was the only one that loved me at first sight besides mom, that is. She would play with me, go outside with me even when she didn’t need to, and snuggle up to me; making me feel safe. At first, she shared her balls with me and even showed me how to play with them. Later on, though, she didn’t want to play anymore. All she did was lay around–always where she could see mom. I guess she just didn’t feel like doing anything.

Then one day mom put Katy in the car and took her to an emergency hospital. It was the weekend, and our vet wasn’t on call. They were gone a long time, but when they came back, Katy just sorta sat on her bed in the TV room; I guess she didn’t want to lay down. But, maybe she couldn’t lay down because she was breathing so hard. She wouldn’t eat, drink, get up (I guess she couldn’t), or maybe she just didn’t want to to anything. I don’t really know what she wanted; I took her my favorite ball, but I guess she didn’t want to play anymore either. I went to find Katy’s favorite ball; maybe she would play after all.

Then, I heard mom making sounds I had never heard her make before. I went into the TV room. and Katy was in mom’s lap. Mom was holding her, petting her, rocking her back and forth, and crying. I tried to kiss mom and Katy, but dad put Hilde, Kasha, and me outside.

After that, the only thing I am sure of is that Katy is not here, and mom is very sad.

The only complaint I have about these big dinners is that I am not allowed in the dining room with the humans while they eat; which is not fair. Mom stayed up all night and prepared for Christmas dinner. I stayed with mom all the time she was cooking; lying on the kitchen floor and lending my moral support. It’s true, I got to sample a lot of good food, but it’s hardly the same as being with everyone while they are eating, and I am on the outside looking in. I don’t know why mom put up all these doggie gates; well, I really do, but I wouldn’t hurt anything lying at her feet while she eats.

After all the humans were through with dessert (I didn’t get any, of course, and I could smell the chocolate), then I got some scraps; I could hardly contain my excitement. Yeah, right! But beggers can’t be choosers. Maybe the next time we have a big dinner, I’ll hide somewhere inside the gates and then sneak in; they won’t even know I’m there. I think it just might work.