In October 1982 I found Velvet in the heating duct at work. I brought her home and she immediately made her way into our hearts. She was a beautiful black female cat with the softest fur imagineable. She always knew when the Thanksgiving turkey went in the oven because she stayed by the oven door all day long. She would follow you to the ends of the earth if you gave her popcorn. She would sit on the edge of the tub and watch me bathe and she loved to cuddle. In February of 1983 we got a yellow lab puppy named Bear. She joined Velvet in the household and immediately hooked anyone who knew her. She would meet my husband at his truck after work and carry in his lunch box. She would get the paper in the yard every morning. She would help carry int he gorceries if you'd let her. She was the most beautiful dog in the world with a heart of pure gold. She'd do anything in the world to please her family. She once had a litter of nine puppies (all yellows) and we named each one after a Cleveland Brown - we had our own dog pound! It wasn't too long though that she decided being a mom wasn't so great and she'd look at us like "please don't make me go down and feed those demons!" Sometime in the summer of 1984 Ozzie came. He was a big black male cat and we named him after Ozzie Newsome of the Cleveland Browns. Ozzie was more dog than cat. He would run and meet you when you came home - didn't matter where he was - out in the field playing, sleeping, whatever, he'd run so fast to meet the trucks, his back legs would almost overtake his front legs. He had huge white fangs upper and lower that stuck out and made him look like a vampire and pure white whiskers. All of our animals had gold eyes and were the most precious things in the world to us. Velvet got sick in 1996 and after much agonizing we decided not to make her suffer. We put her to sleep and grieved something awful. But we of course still had two more babies that needed us. In the summer of 1998 Bear, who was almost 16 years old was unable to get around much and her hips were really bothering her. We knew it was time. But again, we still had one more baby that needed us. In October 1998 Ozzie got suddenly sick with heart failure and we had to put him to sleep. We had no more babies to look after. We knew we were lucky to have had Velvet for 12 years, Bear for almost 16 years and Ozzie for 14 years, but it was very hard to let them go. They went from our lives in the order that they came but that didn't make it any easier. We knew we'd never have any more pets. They are all three buried in the corner of our yard. We held each one in our arms as they took their final breaths and let them know they were loved. In February 1999 my husband decided we needed another puppy. I decided we needed two. We got another yellow lab (Kosar) and a chocolate lab (Katie). They are sisters and are still being trained. We know we can't replace the babies we lost, no pet could ever live up to their standards. But Katie and Kosar are certainly making themselves known and have brought alot of joy to us so far. If we are really, really lucky...they'll both be around for 15 years or more. Thank you for this wonderful opportunity to let me tell you how I still grieve for the two greatest cats in the world and the best dog that God ever put on this earth! I can't wait to meet them at the Bridge.