Writer stunned by death of beloved pet writes book of thoughts

to help others who grieve

GAINESVILLE, FL. (May 31, 2005) —“If animals are not in Heaven, there are going to be a lot of disappointed people,” Suzanne Grenell writes in her newly released book of reflections on the loss of her affectionate Boston Terrier, Mitzi IV Grenell.

Grenell, a newly retired Intel Corporation businesswoman in Scottsdale, AZ, said writing the book helped her release powerful emotions that gripped her when Mitzi suddenly died in her arms upon her return home from a conference. She had left the dog with her parents, had picked her up and put her in the car, then pulled her onto her lap when death occurred.

“It stings like a shotgun through my soul,” Grenell thought at the time. The thought became the opening line of her book, Fare Thee Well My Beloved Pet, in which the author progresses from the raw devastation of death to reflections on the joy her lively terrier brought to her life.  

“You cannot put a dollar value on an animal’s spirit, especially when it is free,” she writes. “And what did I learn from you (Mitzi)? Love, loyalty and silent courage.”

Grenell said she wrote her book of thoughts in verse form during the two weeks after Mitzi died, and as the writing helped her, she hopes it will help others who lose a companion animal.

The author, who recently became pain-free after suffering more than a decade with the excruciating facial pains of trigeminal neuralgia, is publishing the book through the Trigeminal Neuralgia Association (TNA) in Gainesville, Fla. as a means of enhancing support for TN patients worldwide.  The book is available through the TNA website at www.endthepain.org.