A message from Gail Gerber

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Not long after my husband Michael was diagnosed with MS, we received a new member of the family in the form of a miniature Schnauzer. With a face like Ewok and a spirit that embodied all the magic you can find in the stars.

 

Michael had recently been experiencing MS related hearing loss.  His favorite song at the time was Will Smith’s Getting’ Jiggy Wit It.  Due to the impairment, Michael heard Get Jiggy Wiggits. Perhaps solely due to the disease but quite possibly, as a good Jewish man, he might have thought there could be a sale on the Wiggits in the near future and harbored plans to be first in line.

 

With all of that, it was clear that our new non-human family member should be called Jiggy and the

MS team we formed to walk, The JiggyWiggits.  With Jiggy as our mascot.

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From the beginning, Jiggy instinctively found her place at Michael’s side, whether nestled in his

arms at bedtime or standing guard next to his wheelchair or, in those terrible moments when an

ambulance was called to whisk Michael away, spread eagle with her face squeezed between the

driveway gate and the concrete below.  There, unmovable, until he came home or until one of us

picked her up to bring her inside.

 

Jiggy’s generosity did not stop with her human companionship, she would not hesitate to climb into our KitKats’s bed to snuggle up for the night or, to take a step back from her own feeding bowl to allow Kit to have a little extra dinner.

 

We lost Jiggy this past Thanksgiving, just before her 18th birthday and close to five years since Michael Passed.  If he was here, he would say to me, ‘Of course she left us on Thanksgiving, a day of gratitude. Let’s be grateful for all the time we had together.!’

 

And I am grateful.  Grateful for the years of service and of unconditional love.  Grateful that we were all together, Michael’s children and grandchildren on the day she said goodbye.  Grateful for all she taught us and for all the gifts she left behind.