I have been called a “prolific facebook-er” in the past.  I spend a considerable amount of time on social media each day … although i’m not always posting/writing/commenting.  I have very strong beliefs and convictions which can be bristling to those who disagree with my vantage point.

but you know what … I don’t care!  I like to talk, I enjoy debate … I enjoy learning… even if I vehemently disagree (nuance is good, it’s a way to really ‘understand’ the way that you feel).

At the same time, I did not post anything about Jersey … because I did not want to debate what was appropriate for him.  I didn’t want to talk about it … and I certainly didn’t want any unsolicited opinions from my ACTUAL friends nor rando-FB friends. Quite frankly, I was having a really hard time getting my family to join me on the same page as far as the amputation.  Some folks claimed that I was being selfish … others did not believe that he’d survive surgery; and, that he wouldn’t be able to adapt/walk IF he survived. So I selectively excluded any direct commentary about what we were going through on Facebook.

yet… in general, I often post about my pets, and pictures and my crazy-fitness-journey/shenanigans.  I have moved around a lot but have attended larger/prestigous schools in the northeast region (UConn), Graduate School (Brown University) and Fellowship (Yale University). The beauty of this? I’ve met a lot of people… from all over the world. And Jersey (and Emerson) has been a fixture in my life for a very long time.  I don’t know what it is about Jersey, but people just gravitate to him and he ADORES new people and has always be super friendly… so my friends ALWAYS talk about Jersey.  After we’ve all graduated, we’ve moved on to hungrily-pursue our dreams.  The best part of that is I get to see my friends go on to do truly amazing things… the worst part… very few of my close friends live within a 5 hour drive of my house.  So… I have used Facebook as a way to take a glimpse my friends and their wonderful lives.

I finally decided to write a post about what we were going through.  I reads as follows:

“… This past month has been rather challenging and I’ve been completely cryptic about it on social media. About 7 weeks ago, I noticed that Jersey’s rear paw seemed swollen. He went from being ‘fine’, 10 weeks ago to being on very high doses of narcotic-pain medication less than 4 weeks later. I took him to the vet several times… and after a series of tests, it was determined that he has a really aggressive form of Osteosarcoma on June 16th. There is no cure for this cancer and only palliative care. 

… this post reminded me of how awesome my awesome friends are.  I am completely moved to tears.

I’ve received  40 FB comments, phone calls, text messages, gChat messages, FB chat messages from friends and even some random FB people… all of which, have expressed their concern and sadness for Jersey’s situation … were happy to hear that he was feeling better… and some even went as far as saying that I made the absolute correct decision.

I would have never expected soo many people to care… empathize and show love.

… a number of them have also expressed interest in “meeting up” to see Jersey…  So yeah, I need to put together a calendar… Jersey needs to see his other people.

… such of a journey…