Emotional Healing: or, Why we need pets

I cried today, for no good reason.  I was going along, slow but sure, doing my job, when all of a sudden a huge wave of emotion knocked me down and I suddenly found myself depressed.  Thankfully, December is a very slow month at the pool store, so since I didn't have any customers to deal with, I let myself cry. 

I spent many years depressed.  Suicidal, actually.  Every day I would have to search for reasons to stay alive, because on most days, I woke up determined to end my life.  Every day, I had to mentally search my world for a reason that I should live just one more day.  On most of those days, I stayed alive for my cat, Pearl.  She needed me.  I knew that she would not survive without me.  She was afraid of most people, and I couldn't think of anyone compassionate enough to give her the special care that she required.  And so I stayed, always just for one more day.  This period in my life gives the saying "One Day at a Time" new meaning for me.  Same with "Choose Life."  It means something different to me than what was intended by the bumper stickers.