That time of year….

[admin]

Maura, Brigitte (and everyone) – putting the decorations up today made me, too, especially sad. This time last year, we had Meg and Honey. I was putting up something sparkly right next door to the painting we had done of Honey and I got a lump in my throat.
Then I read something on Facebook, about a very kind vet who wrote a special card for the family of a dog who passed. It was such a lovely message . Nothing much helps, Maura (don’t I know it!), but I thought of you as soon as I read that sweet poem, so I have uploaded it as a photo here. I hope it appears somewhere…..

love to everyone, with the hope that we can all find some peace amidst the grief – and may the new year bring some joy. Keep hold of the last line of the poem, Maura: “for every joy that passes, something beautiful remains”

[admin]

Hi Lynda. I have a lump in my throat just thinking of you all that have lost. I wish so that I could help you. Please know you all are in my heart and if love can help – know it’s there.

Lynda, I don’t see the poem, although it sounds lovely. Can you try again? I think the last line, that is there, is beautiful.

At this time of the year and always, all our love, Linda and Sadie

[admin]

The tide recedes, but leaves behind
Bright seashells on the sand

The sun goes down, but gentle
warmth still lingers on the land

The music stops, yet echoes on in
sweet soulful refrains

For every joy that passes, something
beautiful remains.

The vet (somewhere in the US, I think) who had to put the dog to sleep wrote this out on a card, along with a paw print from the much-loved dog (I’m choking up as I write this…). It’s such a lovely gesture.

[admin]

Oh Lynda – it is so very beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing this.

Sending our love and huge hugs,

Linda and Sadie

[admin]

Oh Lynda

What a perfectly lovely poem & a gesture of compassion from the kind vet. I think of you & all my friends on here who have lost their beloved dogs & cats. My heart breaks for you – it’s especially hard at this time of year – I wish there was something I could do to ease your pain. That pain is the price of feeling deep love & loss & it hurts like hell.

We are so lucky to have such special companions, even if the time spent with them is sometimes cut far too short. I wish I could change that for each & every one of you. Please take a little comfort in the fact that they knew that you loved them & cherished them. Something beautiful remains is so apt.

Much love to you, Consuelo & the hounds
Sheena xxxxx

[Tamara]

What a beautiful poem, it gave me tears. Suzanne Clothier wrote a beautiful short piece, here it is from one of her books:

“There is a cycle of love and death that shapes the lives of those who choose to travel in the company of animals. It is a cycle unlike any other. To those who have never lived through its turnings or walked its rocky path, our willingness to give our hearts with full knowledge that they will be broken seems incomprehensible. Only we know how small a price we pay for what we receive; our grief, no matter how powerful it may be, is an insufficient measure of the joy we have been given.

Writing in his essay, “The Once Again Prince,” animal lover and gifted writer Irving Townsend summed it up:

We who choose to surround ourselves with lives even more temporary than our own live within a fragile circle easily and often breached. Unable to accept its awful gaps, we still would live no other way. We cherish memory as the only certain immortality, never fully understanding the necessary plan. It is a fragile circle. But it goes round and round without end.” (this entire quote was taken directly from Suzanne Clothier’s book).

I read of a wonderful idea today, for me at least. I have never found a tree topper for my Christmas tree that I like. Well someone posted today on fb that they have collars for their tree topper of their pets that have passed. I still have Sierra’s, but I don’t have Annie’s, Gitta’s, or Piglette’s. Maybe I’ll see if I can find one for each of them that makes me think of them.
Much love,
tamara and ashki xoxox

[admin]

Hi Lynda, Linda, Sheena, Tamara,
THANK YOU for posting. Lynda , the poem is beautiful. I have been feeling very down too because all of the traditions I made of course are forever changed. But the poem speaks the truth , something beautiful does remain. Tamara , the tree topper idea sounds good and maybe in the years to come I will be able to get to that point. This year we did not put up the normal tree but used a small table top one. Sunny was so cute with our tree that even my husband could not bear it. I bet our beloved dogs and cats are up there wishing us the best.
I hope all in this forum have as happy a holiday season as possible.
Love your friend,
Maura

[Tamara]

Maura, I’m thinking of you and sending you big hugs and much love. I have had many years when the holidays have been unbearable. My therapist would tell me to just get through each day as best I could, that they would pass. I was always so incredibly relieved when I would get to the 2nd of January and they were over.

That first year after we lose a loved one is so incredibly difficult. Like you said, those traditions are changed with that loss. I hope that as time passes, you are able to make new traditions that honor the deep and beautiful love that you and Sunny shared and that bring you joy and peace at those memories. That probably feels like an impossibility right now, but I am hoping for you.

with much love,
tamara xoxox