I’m not at all offended. You are correct, E, we do treat our pets to greater dignities. For reasons of ignorance and profits, I believe. My grandma (every much a Cherokee spirited woman/matriarch/intellect) knew exactly when she wanted to go. She had done and seen enough, she was very tired and saw no more things ahead she wanted to complete. She told me these things … in her own words. The night she died, I was in a hotel room with my wife and sons. I woke up in the wee hours, full of anguish, blurred vision, shakes, couldn’t see well at all, made my way to the bathroom and sat on the commode, waves of pain & suffering noises going on in my head as if the bathroom was filled with tormented people. I thought maybe I was having a stroke or something. Bleating slowly to a head, I rocked on the toilet for some time...and then just calmed…and sat there beginning to feel normal again…but with a lasting sadness. …A few hours later, my mom called with the news. ><<>>< I would gladly (not so much gladly as dutifully, respectfully) have drank a couple o bottles of her favorite Chianti with her n my mom n aunt n uncles and then held her warmly in my arms, Dean Martin playing on her old turntable, candles aglow on the mantle, while she took a good pill of mercy and sanctuary and fell softly to sleep in my arms…while the tears well-up and the memories of her wonder days overtake us.

No one should be forced to remain (here) in assisted living. We've come so far as a species only to have learned so little it seems. I feel ya, dawg.