On Monday we sent in our usual annual donation to the municipality's Humane Society.  Just recently it had built a larger, purpose-built building to house their operations and all the domestic animals that are brought to it for shelter and eventual dispersion within the community.  The new building is far more useful to the needs that they accommodate.  We have always felt a need to support the work they do, as do so many others.

Just three days later, to our surprise, there was a letter from them in our mailbox, and we speculated that it could not possibly be a receipt in such a short turn-around time.  As it happened, it was not.  It was a short and personal missive, explaining that the veterinarian clinic that had looked after our Button for almost twenty years had sent in a memorial donation on news of our having lost her.

Which was very kind and thoughtful of them, not surprising since there are, among the plentiful staff located there, quite kind and thoughtful people.

It did not, however, give us comfort, though we felt gratitude.  Instead, acute feelings of loss flooded our consciousness, as though we were beginning the grieving process all over again.