I wrote a post about my worst fear while travelling being my car breaking down while in the middle of nowhere. While that is a big fear and something that should be of concern, I was wrong about it being my worst fear. My worst fear is losing one of my kids while I am a thousand or more miles away, with nothing I can do about it. My fear, my worst nightmare, came to pass when Jared and I were in North Dakota visiting family last June. Our lovely Luna, Jared's first pet on his own, our oldest girl, our sweet, crochety little old lady, grew very sick within a few days of us leaving home. She stopped eating, she became lethargic, and she lost energy. She was taken to the emergency clinic by our pet sitter and spent several days in the hospital on fluids, trying to support her and help her bounce back from whatever caused her to go downhill. She had been fine while we were home, but perhaps the stress of us leaving caused some internal problem that she had been hiding to rear its ugly head. Whatever happened, Luna did not get better. We had to make the call to let her go from more than a thousand miles away, by phone, unable to be there with her as she passed. I will never forgive myself for not being there with her, and I will always wonder, if we had come home would she still be with us? Losing a pet is never easy, and I've lost a few over the short time I've been a pet owner. Losing a pet while travelling is horrible, and the helplessness and powerlessness we felt in those awful days is something that I never want to experience again. Travelling always comes with risks, and that is something I have come to accept. I know that the more I travel, the less time I'm at home, the more bad things could happen, especially as our dogs and cats get older. I will still travel, and something happening to one of my pets while I'm gone has always been on my mind, but Luna's loss brings that fear into a sharper presence. Luna, we miss you.
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