My dog Leo who has batted cancer since November,died this morning. It was honestly a really hard day for me. I knew the day would come, but kept asking God for just one more. Leo died as he lived, just beautiful.

The difference between dogs and cancer and humans, and in Leo’s case is they don’t fear the end. They are not inundated by doctor’s telling them “you might have 6 weeks to live if all goes well”, they simply wouldn’t care if they actually knew. Leo lived EACH day to the fullest.

Today, on the day he died, he woke up as he usually did, right by my side. But today was different, his whole body had shut down on him. His mind and heart were working as he struggled to get his body to cooperate. The pain must have been excruciating as even a slight touch to his body would send a howl of distress.

I believe a lesson from Leo to me and to everyone reading this is to live your life in the present. Don’t let health scares prevent you from living because tomorrow the bottom could indeed fall out if God’s will says so.

So here is how Leo dealt with this dire condition. When he felt good, he did not hold back from feeling good. When he felt bad, he dealt with feeling bad. He took each day and treated it as a blessing and dealt not with the future, but today. He taught me to live each day ever since he was a puppy, never to take a day for granted.

Leo was also a blessing to me, he replaced a lot of human garbage which was cluttering up my life. He sat through my editing of my books, he came along with me to my work project, he also was with me upon the deaths of my aunts, through many tragic events, and also happy ones as well. He was my true blessing from God and I shall always have him in my heart!

As I by habit still look for him, I also look for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who is right here with me through this sad time. I thank God the Almighty for the blessing of Leo in my life!