Would you do it?

These posts rattle around in my head for a while before I put them down. Some might think not long enough, but here goes.

On October 21, 2001 we lost our beloved Stormy. She had just turned 11 two days before and we were not prepared for her passing. She was only sick for a couple of days. We were devastated. I was desperate. I missed that little 5 pound hairball so much! She was nothing but pure joy to us. She would lick my cheek in the morning to get me up. She was always just happy. She only once "copped an attitude" with me. I had taken her to get her teeth cleaned and she was still recovering from the anesthesia. I let her walk around in the yard when we got home and waited and waited. Nothing. So we went in. She bounded to the top of the steps, turned and looked at me and left me a "present". Her face just daring me to say anything about it. Then she went and slept under the bed for a while.

I came up with some pretty off the wall ideas for keeping her with us - the Space Bags idea immediately pops to mind. Included in that was cloning. Which is what prompted this post.

First off, I don't care one whit how anyone spends their money. It is none of mine or anyone's business. So it doesn't bother me at all that the couple in Florida spent $155,000 to clone a lab that they loved so much. Nor do I care that they cloned the dog. I still have locks of hair of the three that we've lost and never rule out any possibility.

But, it got me to thinking about our family. If we had cloned the three that we lost, would our family still have grown to the 7 we have now? Most likely not. Who wouldn't we have picked up to love? At what point would our home, but never our hearts, have closed to a little dog in need. We got #6 just hours before he was to be euthanized at the shelter so he might not even still be here. I'm certain that #10 with seizures would have been allowed to just keep running free on that Sunday morning.

But how much would we have lost by trying to preserve what we had? We would have missed a lot of unknowns to keep a few knowns. I might never have seen a completely blue-eyed dog. I might never have experienced the love needed to get an animal through a cluster of seizures. I might not have really known the love of animals that have lived a long time in a shelter and are so grateful for a home.

No, I don't fault that couple one bit for cloning their dog. Totally and completely their business. But as much as I miss those little faces - Stormy, age 11; Molly, age 12; and Christy, age 16 - and their very unique and individual personalities, I can't imagine life without the group we have now. Our lives are richer and better because of all of them. One of my very younger cousins made the comment to my aunt one time that their family had too many kids. She had two older brothers that were the source of that comment. My aunt looked at her very seriously and asked who she would pick to go away. Silence. Even at a young age she loved her brothers enough to not really want to be separated from them, despite the circumstances at present.

I feel the same way. If I had the opportunity to bring back any or all of the three that have passed on how would I ever decide who they would replace? They are all special and worth every minute I spend with them. I could never choose one over another.

So I guess my point is that while it is sometimes the easier to stick with what we know - easier, familiar, comfortable - you never know what you might miss when you don't get out of that comfort zone. There's lots to be learned out there, especially about ourselves.