Grief is a long process, it's a cruel unforgiving part of life. It's only when I start to remember my Sasha as she once was that I can celebrate her wonderful life.

Sasha loved the ocean, and any area with a large body of water for that matter. Garbage was another favorite thing, until the effects set in of course, but I was always there to nurse her back to health, just as she was there for me when I needed someone by my bedside, such unconditional love, unlike any other. Snow! How she LOVED waking up to fresh snow on the ground, attacking and eating snowmen was also a much enjoyed pastime. Sticks and balls where pretty much loved equally, as where her toys, which she mostly ate within a day, always starting by ripping the eyes out, she learned how to savor the ones she wanted to hold on to for a while. Camping! She was always up for camping, in spite of the sometimes five hours plus in the car, the expression in her eyes when she realized the tents where going up and staying up was unforgettable. She loved the hot springs, she'd come in just like one of the girls, that's what she always was to me, just one of the girls! The word "beach" would just light up her eyes, and no matter how cold it was down there in our Vancouver winters, it was always worth it to see her romp around in the sand and swim and run and bark, so full of life and vibrancy. Sasha got to swim in the Sea of Cortez, crystal blue water as warm as her baths (which she really didn't mind so much). She learned how to wait for the waves in the Pacific to help her back to shore, like surfing without a board. Sasha loved taking up the whole bed.Sasha loved her cats, and was always there to instigate a cat fight. Chasing squirrels was another much loved activity. Most of all, Sasha loved her family, she loved her life. She loved the quite evenings by the fire. To have a love so large, without ever speaking a word is a special kind of love indeed, one that I will never have again. But this does not sadden me. I am like the luckiest person in the world to have shared her life with her, she made me a better person, she taught me how to be a mother, she taught me how to love unconditionally, and I know, someday I will practice this again. If she could hear me right now, I would say "Thank You! thank you for enriching my life and making me a better person. Even though your physical presence is no longer with me, your spirit lives on inside me and all around me, my love for you will keep you here, always."