Maisie spent her early days living in Wales but was neglected and was thin and infested with fleas when I rescued her and her sister Austine. At a service station on the M4 they both tore me to shreds trying to get at a ham sandwich. Maisie came to live with me and soon settled into what became her trademark 'take it easy'pace of life. She lived with her other siblings, brother Silas,sister Austine and half brothers Twotoes and Felix.Scarred for life by her earlier experiences she hated being picked up or carried yet was intensely affectionate and had an uncanny knack of always being under one's feet.She was especially good at knowing when my husband was about to use the toilet during the night and would accompany him on his trip.Maisie never had much of a voice, but she purred constantly the absence of which was noticeable during her last hours,she never made a sound apart from very briefly when I held her in my arms. Her death was due to heart failure and the subsequent blood clots caused by it.Maisie was many things,a pest because she insisted on ripping the furniture and carpets but mostly she was a sweet natured,selfless little girl who gave so much love and seemed to expect nothing in return.Her selflessness will always be remembered.The vet said that she mjst have been ill for some time,but she never showed it,she went about her final days quietly,perhaps because we were so focused on caring for her brother who was recovering from a car accident?In fact Maisie was the one who came and told me that her brother was in trouble,she pestered me that day and wouldn't be placated.She was determined that I should follow her into the garden and there under 'his' tree was Felix, nearly at death.She stood over him and concerned herself with him when he returned from the 'hospital' and seemed to know what was happening,something she had shown before in years past when her other siblings had been in trouble.Maisie always waited patiently for food,letting everyone else go first.She greeted every visitor to our home with her presence and love but never intruded too much.She died as she lived that little girl,quietly and with little fuss.She woke me in the middle of the night crying for me.I turned on the light to find her exhausted having dragged herself to me with her front legs only.She couldn't stand and could barely sit,but when she saw me she still tried to come to me.Ipicked her up and cradled her,the first time that she had ever let me hold her.As we waited for the vet my husband and I soothed her and talked to her, knowing that she was near her end, our hearts breaking with the realisation that we would have to let her go.She died in my husbands arms later that day.I have cried almost constantly for the last 48 hours, my eys are red and puffy,I ache from the stress caused to my muscles in my shoulders,chest and back from the heaving sobs which I cannot contain.I am crying as I write this too.We buried our little girl in the garden in her favourite spot,the bird garden where she loved to watch the birds feed.She is right outside the kitchen window where we will always be able to see her.In life she was always nearby and in death she will be too,with spring bulbs to mark her place and soon a headstone with our message on.She wanted nothing but company in life,in death she will get as much as we can give.I don't know how my life will ever be repaired.I feel a sense of loss that I have never felt before.My heart is crying and I feel so full of pain.How will I ever feel happy again?If there was any way,any price to pay to have her home again it would be nothing to us.I loved her then, I love her now, forever and ever my friend and my girl.Sleep well Piggy xxx