The Other Shoe Drops - and So Did My Stomach

Even cuter with a banana smile.

Hello friends - well, after a brief (too brief) respite, the other shoe has dropped. While opening my mail on Sunday, June 29, I came across a Letter of Claim indicating I was being sued over this whole mess. This is apparently the very first step down a path toward a civil suit. I didn't understand this initially because, well, I'm not an attorney.

This new information doesn't really change what I need to do. I will need an attorney to assist and guide me throughout this entire process - regardless of how it goes - and there are many possibilities about how this could go.

So, I have to do something I'm not at all comfortable with and actually find fairly humiliating. I have to ask for financial help because the legal fees will be significant.

As many of you know, I lost my job in September 2013 and have been unemployed since. I started freelancing several months ago, but it takes time to build up projects and clients. It looked like I was *just* about to break even in June, and then all this happened. The tiny amount of money I had in savings is gone due to what's happened so far and that's all I had for a buffer.

Now I'm being forced into a situation where I have no choice but to hire an attorney to defend Nano and me. My attorney is an excellent and comes highly recommended, but he's expensive (as most attorneys are).

Today, June 30, he asked opposing counsel to share the medical records and photos with us so we could examine them and have them forensically analyzed but that request was declined. We can't do anything about that. It's their right to decline at this time. Is it frustrating? Yes. Is it worth it to get mad? No. The process will have to get a lot farther down the road before we could do discovery and have the evidence shared with us - and - who knows, it may never get that far. Or it might, no way to know right now.

I'm not sure where or when this journey will end - but it's going to take funding to get there.

So far, it's been a pathway through one of my worst fears: being wrongly or mistakenly accused. So when I say this feels like a nightmare to me, I mean that literally. This has been the hardest experience of my life - emotionally, physically, psychologically - I'm a mess. (And yes, I am seeing a doctor tomorrow, I do know when it's time to get professional help).

I started a fundraising campaign on a site called CrowdTilt - it's a great place to do precisely this kind of fundraising because the percentage they take (5%) is much less than other fundraising sites, plus there isn't a minimum threshold. Several of you have already given generous gifts - for that I thank you sincerely. As for Nano ... well, he's grateful too, he just doesn't know it.

I know people will want to howl with frustration - please, let's not, we're better than that. It won't help - so let's keep it clean, people.

As I said, this is pretty much the low point of my life. I can only tell you that while am I being forced to fight this battle, I also want to fight it because I have to stick up for Nano - he's my best little buddy and brings nothing but joy to my life. I know what I saw, I know what the experts are telling me and those two things add up to innocence. I have to believe that truth and honesty will win the day - it's just going to be expensive to get to that day.

Here's the link, please consider a gift. Over on Facebook, it looks like each post reaches more than 5,000 (!) people - if everyone gave a couple dollars (literally) - I'd be in good shape (at least I sure hope so).

https://www.crowdtilt.com/campaigns/nano-the-day-the-usps-went-postal-on-my-dog/contributors

With heartfelt gratitude -
Alicia and Nano