BY GWEN SMITH-DARNELL
      In collaboration with Gretta
      Hi Paws to all my fur-pal friends! It sure has been awhile since I have reached out to all of you. I cover my eyes with my paws in sadness, and apologize, but I have not forgotten you. I’ve allowed all the duties here in Pawprints Paradise to take me away from sharing moments with you, my fur-ever friends.
      Isn’t this how we all have been at times? Our everyday duties and obligations take up all the hours in the day, leaving no time left to spend with the people we care about the most. Life passes by so quickly. We lose precious time that we will never get back, and can never redo.
      So many fur-pals that arrive here in Pawprints Paradise, bark that they wish they had just one more day to spend with their masters. Those whom they loved and cherished the most. Just one more time to take a walk together, play fetch together, sit together to feel their masters hands gently stroking their fur, sleeping next to them and feeling secure, or waiting at the door for their safe return and then receiving one of those luscious treats sharing the body wiggling excitement of seeing their master once again!
      I never stop watching you from this heavenly meadow hill perch! Sometimes I lie here alone, but usually all the heavenly fur-pals gather with me and we bark amongst ourselves as we watch the life we once knew in our past homes, towns and especially with you, go on. We howl with your joys and yelp for the struggles you sometimes face, either alone or with your fur-pals.
      Over the past week, a dear friend, Joe Dickey Jr., who touched my life with sincere kindness, was called to his heavenly home.
      I recall many times, whenever Joe was present, laughter usually filled the room. He lived life to the fullest. He’d take time out of his busy schedule to stop and pass on a kind word, or to put a smile on someone’s face.
      I remember when he expressed to my masters how much he enjoyed reading words from Gretta. Sometimes we all need a pawsitive word, and Joe touched many lives with words of encouragement, with his presence and unconditional love. When he saw a need, he was there to help in any way he could.
      I’ll hold Joe in my memories fur-ever, remembering how he made the community where he lived a better place and the people he met, giving them joy and words to make their tails wag, helping them to see the good in themselves.
      I’ll keep watching for Joe, for I never know when a familiar face from the past will come to take a walk over to Pawprints Paradise to see all the heavenly fur-pals.
      And knowing Joe, he’ll be sure to come, if only to spread his often-heard words of encouragement and kindness, because that’s just the way he always was.
      Be sure to take time from your busy lives to spend with the people and fur-pals who surround you.
      And, as always, ‘keep your tails awaggin!’
      Gretta, a Golden Retriever, spent almost 15 years at The Boardman News. She greeted all who entered with a wag of her tail! She made
      her journey to her heavenly home in
      November, 2012.