Joshua has been effected by Jesse's passing more than I thought was possible (never mind how _I_ feel). His distress was/is quite terrifying. Because of his inability to vocally express his feelings, he somehow found the strength and intelligence to create a little video tribute to Jesse. He worked long and hard in his room; not allowing Paul nor I to see what he was doing. When done, he burned his movie to a DVD and showed us on the big-screen TV what he had been working so laboriously on for two weeks. Needless to say, Paul and I sat there quite surprised after watching it; not only because it was a beautiful way for Josh to express the love he had for his little pal but because we had no idea he had the capability to figure out how to even create such a thing using his Mac and iMovie (with absolutely no direction).

Paul and I talked about the fact that he needed to share his love of Jesse with everyone. And that perhaps it would help him with the pain he felt if he knew he had a good support team behind him. So I uploaded the video to YouTube.

Josh checks YouTube all day long to see if he's getting any "hits" and "comments" which to him, means his dog is being embraced by a lot of people. For the first time since Jesse died, Josh is actually able to smile a little. His goal is to have quote/unquote 'a hundred thousand hits'. I'm sure he means 1,000 hits .. so here's the favour.

IF YOU USE FACEBOOK:
Could you post the Tribute to Jesse link on your facebook page so that your friends might see it. Just the link; embedding the video is not necessary.

IF YOU USE TWITTER:
Would you tweet the link to your followers (if appropriate)

IF YOU BLOG:
Would you post the link in your Blog (if appropriate)

IF YOU HAVE A MAILING LIST
Would you send the link to your list (if appropriate)

YOUTUBE
Would you go back to YouTube (or visit YouTube if you haven't been there yet) and post a comment or hit the Like button. If you don't have a YouTube account in order to post a comment, it's a simple process to get one. (This prevents spam at YouTube).

A few words describing the relationship between Joshua and Jesse posted along with the link would probably explain a lot. Here's the little blurb I put in YouTube with an explanation of how the video came to be.
Joshua is a special needs young man with cerebral palsy. Jesse, a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever had his life cut short when stricken with canine leukemia. Jesse was Josh's one true best friend -- he loved Josh unconditionally and vice versa. When we first got a Toller, we were concerned that this high-energy, excitable breed might not have been the best choice for Josh. But we soon learned that although Jess would jump up and flatten anyone who got in the way of his excitement, with Josh this sensitive and intuitive creature was gentle and loving. Out of Josh's extreme and distressing sadness, came the surprising ability to put this little tribute together on his own with no direction. It was not only astounding but once again proved that love has no bounds.

The YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIUIyurJQiM