We lost a good lady!

Yesterday, I returned home, after working a very long day, excited that I was going to start a five day Stay-Cation. I settled in for the night and checked my email, that is when I got the news. Mary Jane had passed away. Wow, I was speechless.

I met Mary Jane online at a golden retriever forum. She was our mother hen. It was the year that my mother was very ill. Mary Jane was encouraging me to go to Goldstock. At one point, I stated that I didn't think that I had the physical or emotional strength to drive the six hours by myself to get there. Mary Jane would not hear of it. I went and I am so glad I did.

I attended two more Goldstock's after that. Mary Jane was a pivotal figure for our group at all of these events. She planned and organized everything so that we all could make the most out of our time together.

There were days where you would come home from work and there would be a package from her. She was always sending gifts. She sent them when you got a new furbaby. She sent you a memorial gift when you lost one. She sent gifts when they had surgeries. She was just always thinking of others.

Mary Jane, along with Pam, was pivotal in rescuing Travis from the Amish farm. Mary Jane and her husband put up all of the money to spring him until we could fund raise to pay them back. She didn't hesitate, she new this wonderful dog deserved more. It was because of Mary Jane, Pam and Travis that we now have our Golden Friends Rescue group.

In early August, Mary Jane was having some back troubles. When she was at the beach, walking the dogs, she slipped and fell. After that, her back troubles got worse, then she started loosing feeling in her leg. She went in for tests and they found a lesion on her spine. It was cancerous. She had an operation and started receiving therapy. She kept getting worse. She never came home.

I am shocked and saddened that this all happened so fast. I am struggling with questions I have. Why? Why someone good? Why not someone evil? The hardest question I have is why is my mother still alive, when she clearly DOES NOT want to live, yet Mary Jane and my mother in law Nancy, both wanted to live so bad and they were denied. Why? I don't want my mother to die, but she clearly doesn't want to live, she is content to live in a nursing home having others do everything for her. Why?

We lost a great lady yesterday. She has touch so many lives, especially all of the animals that she helped have better lives. I thank her for Travis, he truly is a special creature that would have had a horrible life. We may have lost her, but heaven is a little brighter today. A fiery redhead has joined the ranks and she's keeping her fellow angels in line.

God Speed Mary Jane.