I’m sad to announce that yesterday, my 18 year and some odd month old miniature pinscher Ruby passed away at approximately 5p ET.  As someone said today in a kind email to me…

“So sorry to hear about your dog.  I know that it can be a really sad loss for us, especially we GLBT people.  Often our pets are our babies.”

So true, and, for Ruby, whose care had become more time and energy consuming over her last few months, I think the more I put into caring for her, the more I cared about her.  So the loss is extra hard.

But even in my grief, I am trying to keep perspective.  I have great memories of her and I have so much still to be grateful for in my life today.

Thanks to everyone who have called and sent well wishes.  Especially memorable were words such as: ‘as long as she lived it was obvious you loved her and cared well for her’ and ‘remember that you aren’t alone and many have traveled this road before you’.

Your words of comfort really DO help.  I did get a good night’s sleep last night and today I feel better.  This blog post is in honor of Ruby’s memory and I know it’s cathartic for me to post about it here to my online ‘family’.

Ruby was a ‘one in a million dog’ in many ways.

As you may know, Coach Sappho has launched a great new initiative for marriage and committed relationship-minded lesbian singles and couples called

Coach Sappho’s Bloggers for Love Across Lesbian America!

Simply put, the vision for Coach Sappho’s Bloggers for Love Acrosss Lesbian America! is to connect committed and marriage-minded lesbians across America by blogging about what’s going on in lesbian communities in towns across America when it comes to supporting the success of lesbians who are finding, creating and sustaining long term, deeply satisfying relationships. 

And, in those areas where there isn’t much going on, or where what’s going on is hard to find, our bloggers will be working to advocate for resources and/or unearth them.

This month is the first time our ‘early adopter’ bloggers have posted.  I’d like to welcome our bloggers and ask you for your help.  How can you help?

You can…

• Read their posts and spread the word
• Join us as a blogger yourself – we are hoping to cover as many cities and states in the United States as possible, so, we need you!  We are looking for bloggers across the United States, not just in Florida and, of course, we are looking for more bloggers from Florida too!

So here’s the first bloggers with the courage to come out and speak out:

Beth - Gulfport, Florida. 
Click here to read Beth’s posts.

Victoria – DeBary, Florida
Click here to read Victoria’s posts.

Barb – Ocala, Florida
Click here to read Barb’s posts.

Barb – Baltimore, Maryland
Click here to read Barb’s posts.

Thank you, Beth, Victoria and Barb, for speaking out!  We look forward to future blog posts about your communities.

If you’d like to start blogging with us, it’s easy.  To sign up, just email Barb Elgin.

Happy Holidays!

Barb Elgin
http://www.coachsappho.com/podcast.html
Coach Sappho’s LIVE Podcast – join me
on Wednesday evenings for live talk about
lesbian love and relationships!