A little kindness means a lot

We went into the cancer clinic today to pick up the box with Finny's ashes.

There was one other patient there, a boxer dog named Lily whom we had met before. We waited to approach the desk til she and her owner had checked out. As an owner, you know that some of the treatments may be hard on your pet in the short term, but you do it because you believe that the measures you are taking will ultimately have a good chance of helping your pet get through his or her illness. You are relying on your sense of hope. The last thing you need is to see someone sobbing over a pet who didn't make it.

So we waited. And in the meantime, I brought out my deck of Pantone color swatches to get a better read on the paint colors in the lobby, because I am working on a wall hanging for them. I also took out 6 of the squares I had made to see which were the best matches, and to check if any might need to be set aside.

Lily doggie and her owner left. And we talked with the techs and the vet for a bit. We told them about the wall hanging, and also asked if there was some piece of equipment they needed that we could donate in Finny's honor.

Our vet said she'd confer with her colleagues, and reiterated how much they all had loved Finnegan. Then we kind of couldn't avoid the reason we had gone in any longer... so we picked up the little box and brought it home. NOT the way we wanted to be bringing my little boy home again. :(

When the mail came, I saw that we had an envelope from the cancer clinic. I wondered if there was a bill we hadn't resolved. Instead, it turned out to be a sympathy card from everyone at the clinic. They all had signed it, every one of them, and the ones who had worked personally with him had written sweet little notes.

I don't know if I have ever heard of a group of doctors doing this, not even for a human patient.

Finny was very important to us, but this small act of kindness made us feel like he had mattered to others as well. And that means more to me than I can say.