"All that we deeply Love
becomes a part of us."
Helen Keller
Articles
"What She Taught Me"
It was known in my family that no one ever 'owned' animals, but rather that we simply shared the same roof with them.
It was no different when Our Girl joined the family many years ago.
In fact, from the moment she entered my Dad's life from a rescue organization, she was 22 pounds of pure love, sweet joy, and incredible happiness.
From morning to night, she was a picture of happy excitement that simply made you smile, regardless of what else was happening in your life.
You couldn't help but feel good when you were around her.
She insisted on being recognized when you walked in the house and was vocal if you didn't stop and pet her right away, regardless of how full your arms were or how many packages you were carrying.
And whether you were away for only a few minutes or a few hours, you received the same exuberant greeting as if you'd been gone for days or several weeks. They say animals' concept of time is different from ours, so perhaps that's true. But with regard to routines, time was the same: when we had a snack, she had a snack; when we ate, she ate, and so forth.
When we would gather together and catch up on the events of the day, she would run into the bedroom and trot out bringing one of her favorite toys so that our attention would shift back to her, reminding us that she needed to be included, as well.
From the very beginning, she and my Dad were joined at the hip for she insisted on going wherever he went.
For all intents and purposes, they were together pretty much 24/7.
She started his day by smiling at him from her bed on the floor beside his and ended the day by waiting for him to come and tuck her in for the night before she would go to sleep.
To say they had an amazing 'bond' would be an understatement.
Since he had some serious health conditions, we often worried that she would be utterly and completely lost if something ever happened to him.
However, fate stepped in and eliminated that worry.
We had noticed for some time that she just wasn't her usual perky self.
Even on the morning walks I would take her on, she seemed to want to cut them short and just return home - very different from the many years she and my Dad (when he had been able) had roamed the woods for hours on end.
Soon she started acting as if something was bothering her physically so, of course, we took her in for consultations.
The results indicated spinal issues that had flared up again (from an old injury before she joined our family) and the resulting conclusions reflected doubt that they could be corrected or that she could ever be fully healed.
However, we still maintained hope that with energy healing and laser sessions, she may yet have a chance. But despite our optimism, she suddenly went downhill and we had to love her enough, as she deserved, to make a decision that ensured she would be free of pain.
So our little love made her transition across the Rainbow Bridge.
Although we are all relieved that she is now free of any pain or discomfort, it still feels like our hearts are breaking from missing her so much.
Something everyone who has gone through this can understand for how can you not miss a loved one that represented the essence of unconditional love? One who was a constant companion, a true friend, and a source of incredible delight.
Yes, we know the intensity of the pain will ease with time.
But a week or two is far too soon, and I'd be lying if I said I still don't cry when I see her picture pop up on the computer screen or think I catch a glimpse of her out of the corner of my eye.
I still look for her in every room and around every corner waiting to see her joyous little face and hear her happy little greeting.
The house feels incredibly lonely without her and looks terribly empty without her beds, her special ramp to the front window, toys, food dishes and containers, milk bone canister, and her treats.
So I thought I would honor her by sharing these simple, but nevertheless profound, things she taught me about life and love.
I have no doubt that those of you who have been able to experience life with beloved animal friends know the following as well:
Greet your loved ones with joy,
Happiness is contagious
and lifts your heart,
Feeling loved and special makes
everything better,
Even an hour apart from a loved one can seem like a very long time,
Take every opportunity to let someone know how much they mean -
life can be short,
Never be too busy to have playful moments with those you love,
Never allow anyone not to recognize and appreciate you; and lastly,
Giving and receiving love is ultimately all that really matters.
When animal friends share our lives, I know on the deepest of levels that they've 'agreed' to help us keep our hearts open to giving and receiving love.
And when your time is up here on earth and all is said and done, is there anything even remotely as important?
How lucky and blessed we are that they agreed to share this time and space with us, while giving so freely and unconditionally to us.
Just imagine how unbelievably, and unbearably lonely our world would be without them, both on an individual, as well as, a global scale.
So while you're remembering your loved ones on special holidays, please acknowledge what an incredible gift our animal companions give to us each and every day unfailingly - the miraculous gift of 'unending' love.
I say unending for I believe that it is a love that continues on forever, regardless of time, space, or dimension.
And I know the day will come when I once more see her little smiling face and hear her happy bark of loving welcome - and know the same is true for all of you whose loved ones have crossed the Rainbow Bridge.
Quotes
“Some people talk to animals. Not many listen though. That's the problem.” A.A. Milne
"We lavish on animals the love we are afraid to show to people." Mignon McLaughlin
"Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened."
Anatole France
"What is man without the beasts? For if all the beasts were gone, man would
die of a great loneliness of the spirit."
Chief Seattle
"Such short little lives our pets have to spend with us, and they spend most of it
waiting for us to come home each day." John Grogan
"If a man aspires towards a righteous life, his first act of abstinence is
from injury to animals." Albert Einstein
"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way
its animals are treated." Mahatma Gandhi
"An animal's eyes have the power to speak a great language." Martin Buber
"Animals are such agreeable friends ―
they ask no questions,
they pass no criticisms." George Eliot
"Our task must be to free ourselves . . . by widening our circle of compassion to
embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty." Albert Einstein
"Life is as dear to a mute
creature as it is to man.
Just as one wants happiness and fears pain,
just as one wants to live and not die,
so do other creatures."
His Holiness, The Dalai Lama
"Any glimpse into the life of an animal quickens our own and makes it so
much the larger and better in every way." John Muir
"If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men."
St. Francis of Assisi
"The fate of animals is of greater importance to me than the fear of appearing
ridiculous; it is indisputably connected with the fate of men." Émile Zola
"Everyone is born with the power to communicate with other species, and although it is long lost for many people, it can be regained for the benefit of all beings on Earth." Penelope Smith
Are You Ready?
Dr. C. Slobodchikoff, Ph.D.,
Professor Emeritus of Biological Sciences
Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ
According to Dr. Slobodchikoff, in less than 10 years we'll see a universal translator for communicating with dogs and cats.
The device will translate barks or meows into words, similar to the way a language translator app works, e.g., French to English.
In other words, computers will be able to foster better understanding between humans and animals.
The Heart Connection
Dr. Linda Bender
A Veterinarian from South Carolina
Dr. Bender believes:
"We all have the ability
to understand animals.
It gets trained out of us around age 7.
It's not about doing, it's about 'being',
a connection through the heart."
My Favorite
Many years ago, I came across the following framed in my vet's office in California. It's from a book by Henry Beston, 'The Outermost House", written in 1928. Enjoy.
"We need another and a wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept of animals.
Remote from universal nature, and living by complicated artifice, man in civilization surveys the creature through the glass of his knowledge and sees thereby a feather magnified and the whole image in distortion.
We patronize them for their incompleteness, for their tragic fate of having taken form so far below ourselves.
And therein we err, and greatly err. For the animal shall not be measured by man.
In a world older and more complete than ours, they move finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear.
They are not brethren, they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow 'travelers' (my word substitution) of the splendor and travail of the earth."
To this day when I read it, I still feel its profound wisdom since it expresses so beautifully how richly enhanced our lives are because of the animal kingdom.
Wishing healing for you and your beloved companions.