The importance of dogs vs. the cost of vet care

None of us are immune. These are difficult times. Life itself is difficult. Each day we can be thrown any number of hurdles. Over the past few days, I've been subjected to two different circumstances that illustrate both the importance of pets and also the difficulties of paying for their care when times are tough. My first grade locker partner and I have reconnected on facebook and she recently adopted a puppy but he had to be weaned from his mother, etc. A week ago, Julie's mother died after a long illness and they buried her on Wednesday. Yesterday on facebook, Julie had posted photos that Marvin had come home it looks like either Thursday or Friday. I kept thinking of the importance of this event (I don't believe in coincidence anymore- this was meant to happen the way it did) and how Marvin came home just as Julie would need him most. On the other side of coin, there is a man who walks in the same park I walk my crew. He has two dogs who are older. A mutual friend who I walk with told me that one of his dogs (who is 14 years old) has an infection due to a seedling stuck between his pads but he can't afford vet care because he can't even pay his mortgage this month. His dogs are clearly important to him and he walks them consistently everyday. The dog already was declining in health, probably because of his age and now the man is struggling with what to do for the future of his dog who also clearly has been his companion for a long time. I can't even think of a line to finish off this posting because nothing seems to wrap it up. Maybe nothing is supposed to and I should just end it here.

Workshop on helping the bereaved by suicide

When someone has died by suicide, how do you support the people coping with the loss?
When someone has attempted suicide, how do you support the attempter and his/her family?

Learn from two experts in the suicide field how you can help people grieving the loss of suicide or a suicide attempt. What do you say? What can you do? What are the resources available? This workshop is geared toward lay people (churches, community-service organizations, family members, and anyone else who might come in contact with people coping with suicide).

“The Aftermath of Suicide:
Supporting People Coping With Suicide Loss, Suicide Attempters and their Families"


Michelle Linn-Gust, Ph.D.
Michelle is the president-elect of the American Association of Suicidology and an international speaker and writer about suicide postvention and prevention issues. She is the author of Do They Have Bad Days In Heaven? Surviving the Suicide Loss of a Sibling and Ginger’s Gift: Hope and Healing through Dog Companionship. She also is a co-founder of the New Mexico Suicide Prevention Coalition.


JoAnn Sartorius, L.I.S.W.
JoAnn's work with high-risk adolescents and their families spans 30 years.
For the last decade, she has concentrated on suicide prevention as well as addressing the aftermath of suicide. Currently, JoAnn works throughout the state as a program coordinator and trainer for school-based suicide prevention programs, is a member of a suicide crisis response team, and presents educational workshops on suicide prevention for youth, school personnel and communities. JoAnn is a co-founder of the New Mexico Suicide Prevention Coalition.


August 25th, 10:00 am to 1:00 pm
Los Griegos Community Center
1231 Candelaria NW
Albuquerque, NM 87107

Cost for the workshop is $40

Minimum number of participants is 30, maximum is 50.

Registration online at www.chelleheadworks.com
Questions? Email: info@chelleheadworks.com

Change no matter where we are

I flew to Chicago yesterday via Denver and Lincoln, NE, (don't ask me...you'd think United would want to keep me on fewer planes when I'm using a frequent flyer ticket I payed $10 for....). It was a cloudy and cool day in Naperville so this afternoon I took Ginger and Daisy for a walk. Daisy now has been with Mom for about seven months and seems really happy in her new life. She had very wiry fur that now is almost gone and turned more yellow than the former white it was and also is a soft as, well, a furry dog. Mom says it was her thyroid that did it and now that she's on medication, she's looking more like the yellow lab that she is. Ginger is Ginger. Some things never change. Ginger still opens the cabinet door when Mom leaves and we joke that Daisy stands at the window saying, "You better hurry! She's pulling up in the driveway now!" Mom doesn't keep the garbage there anymore. But on our afternoon walk through Brush Hill Park, it was sad to see one of the last parcels of farmland now gone. In fact, where Ginger and I once walked next to corn, they were putting up a fence today for what I assume is a car dealership on the other side. Change is inevitable but it was good for the last three years that when Ginger and I would walk, at least I felt close to some sort of Midwestern farm with the corn there. Each day I pray that I keep moving forward in my life but somehow there are some things I wish could stay the same. I guess I can't have my corn, er cake, and eat it too.

Howard Gluss radio show on celebrity death

I'm set to appear on the Howard Gluss radio show Friday night at 8 PM PST where we'll discuss how people cope with celebrity death. It seems that we are somehow intertwined with celebrities in our lives, even those of us whose lives don't revolve around them. I admit that I have been affected by MJ's death. I was never a big fan although my sister and I watched his videos over and over (there was one channel that seemed to play the same group of videos all the time). But I am not heartbroken like I heard one woman crying on the radio the evening he died when I was driving to get some take out for dinner. It's a loss and affects people. And it needs to be acknowledged so that people can cope. My hope is that MJ took away from this life what he was supposed to learn.

Farrah, Michael, Denise, and Bonnie

When I found out that Farrah Fawcett had anal cancer, I was taken back to the cancer of my friend Bonnie who died 3 1/2 years ago. I was with Bonnie almost everyday, as long as I was in town, until her death a few months later. Today is my 10th wedding anniversary and it was Bonnie who sewed my wedding dress. Bonnie had the same cancer as Farrah. I had a Farrah haircut in fifth grade and my older sister was a big "Charlie's Angels" fan. My cousins had a gerbil named Farrah. Farrah was part of my 1970s. After I found out Farrah died yesterday, I had a hard time wrapping my head around it. I knew it was coming but sometimes it's hard to imagine someone we saw as so strong and beautiful as having deteriorated and then dying. After my husband told me about Michael Jackson's death, I thought back to my sister Denise. I was coming of age when "Thriller" came out and I sware Denise had a "PYT" shirt (I can't confirm this since my mom doesn't remember!). I never owned the "Thriller" tape but I think she did. His songs were at the top of the charts as we ambled through school and adolescence, our teen years, and life. As Dick Clark says about music on general, for us MJ's songs are on the soundtracks of our lives. Each time something that is part of my history, part of my life, ends or dies, especially when it relates to my sister or my dad or Bonnie or anyone else in my life who has died, I feel like another little piece of my life is chipped away. I hold the memories but that's it. I can't grasp the rest of it with my arms because it's not here anymore. But I am always reminded that these people have left because they accomplished what they were supposed to teach us and it was time to go. We are sad because they are gone but they all left us something behind. We wouldn't feel a need to let any emotion escape via tears or sadness if they didn't.

Mulling over scenes for the Ginger's Gift screenplay

I've been mulling over scenes for the Ginger's Gift screenplay in the last week. While writing a screenplay and making a movie has been on my list of things that I have wanted to do since I was oh, probably 13, this is the first time I'm attempting it. I have been reading the "Marley & Me" screenplay to use as a guide and it's interesting to see what was supposed to be shot and what actually turned into the movie. What I struggle with most as I do this, is how do I make it as close to the book as possible? I always see how books change as they are made into movies and now I'm understanding the true difficulty of this because it needs to be a powerful screenplay yet be true to my story. More to come as I continue to form and mold my notes into a piece of work.

Father's Day, Michelle Style without my Dad

Today is Father's Day, a time when we traditionally buy dad a gift of something he wants (not needs!). If you spend enough time looking at the newspaper ads and the commercials on tv, you'll know that these things could be clothes, grilling supplies, sports equipment, even a new drill. But for those of us without a dad here on earth, it's a sad day. Each time I push my cart through Target on my way to the food section, I pass the greeting card aisle where I'm reminded that there is no card to buy my dad anymore. I see the ones with grills or the argyle sweaters and I want to grab and them and pick them. Until I remember I don't have anyone to send one to. Instead, today I will make samosas and read the Marley & Me script (we're getting ready to start the Ginger's Gift screenplay) at my pool in the sunshine. My dad is with me, I am sure of that, but it's not quite the same without him to call and have a chat about the bugs that are eating my sunflowers and the price of gas. To everyone who has experienced a father loss, I'm thinking of you today.