Author Topic: Living Love (About Remembering)  (Read 4930 times)

Offline moonlitcroatia

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Living Love (About Remembering)
« on: December 14, 2006, 07:31:01 pm »
Living Love

If you ever love an animal, there are three days in your life you will always remember...

The first is a day, blessed with happiness, when you bring home your young new friend. You may have spent weeks deciding on a breed. You may have asked numerous opinions of many vets, or done long research in finding a breeder. Or, perhaps in a fleeting moment, you may have just chosen that silly looking mutt in a shelter--simply because something in its eyes reached your heart. But when you bring that chosen pet home, and watch it explore, and claim its special place in your hall or front room--and when you feel it brush against you for the first time--it instills a feeling of pure love you will carry with you through the many years to come.

The second day will occur eight or nine or ten years later. It will be a day like any other. Routine and unexceptional. But, for a surprising instant, you will look at your long-time friend and see age where you once saw youth. You will see slow deliberate steps where you once saw energy. And you will see sleep where you once saw activity. So you will begin to adjust your friend's diet--and you may add a pill or two to her food. And you may feel a growing fear deep within yourself, which bodes of a coming emptiness. And you will feel this uneasy feeling, on and off, until the third day finally arrives.

And on this day--if your friend and God have not decided for you, then you will be faced with making a decision of your own--on behalf of your lifelong friend, and with the guidance of your own deepest Spirit. But whichever way your friend eventually leaves you---you will feel as alone as a single star in the dark night. If you are wise, you will let the tears flow as freely and as often as they must. And if you are typical, you will find that not many in your circle of family or friends will be able to understand your grief, or comfort you. But if you are true to the love of the pet you cherished through the many joy-filled years, you may find that a soul--a bit smaller in size than your own---seems to walk with you, at times, during the lonely days to come. And at moments when you least expect anything out of the ordinary to happen, you may feel something brush against your leg--very very lightly. And looking down at the place where your dear, perhaps dearest, friend used to lay---you will remember those three significant days. The memory will most likely be painful, and leave an ache in your heart---As time passes the ache will come and go as it has a life of its own. You will both reject it and embrace it, and it may confuse you. If you reject it, it will depress you. If you embrace it, it will deepen you. Either way, it will still be an ache.

But there will be, I assure you, a fourth day when---along with the memory of your pet---and piercing through the heaviness in your heart---there will come a realization that belongs only to you. It will be as unique and strong as our relationship with each animal we have loved, and lost. This realization takes the form of a Living Love---like the heavenly scent of a rose that remains after the petals have wilted, this love will remain and grow--and be there for us to remember. It is a love we have earned. It is the legacy our pets leave us when they go. And it is a gift we may keep with us as long as we live. It is a love which is ours alone. And until we ourselves leave, perhaps to join our beloved pets--it is a love that we will always possess.

By Martin Scot Kosins
Author of "Maya's First Rose"

 

I think dogs are the most amazing creatures; they give unconditional love.  For me they are the role model for being alive.  ~Gilda Radner

Offline aggghgmom

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Re: Living Love (About Remembering)
« Reply #1 on: December 14, 2006, 08:09:36 pm »
Beautiful..

As I sit here reading that (and cry) I remember Blondie (my cocker growing up), Margo (my Elkhound who only lived to one year), Beloved Stoli (my springer who graced us with 12 years and spoiled my hubby to all other dogs), and of course, my clown, my buddy....Harle y who is still by my side doing goofy things that one day I will miss deeply.

Randy

Offline Nina

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Re: Living Love (About Remembering)
« Reply #2 on: December 14, 2006, 09:10:45 pm »
Wow I am bawling my face off. It will be a year this month on the 30 that Dilbert passed away. I miss him so much, words can't even discribe how much it still hurts.  :'(

Beautiful poem.

Nina
Nina and Tim
Calgary, AB, Canada
Harley(Lab mix)
Dilbert(Pyr mix)At the bridge
Jolene (cat)

Offline NEWF4U

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Re: Living Love (About Remembering)
« Reply #3 on: January 01, 2007, 07:04:43 pm »
Thank you for sharing that. I just recently lost my friend, Ben, on December 24th and although I didn't get to see stage 2 because he was only 5, it still helped a little to read that.  I am at the stage I think where you said no one in your group of friends will understand your grief.  I think that is so true.  People try to understand when you lose an "animal", but what I am finding is that many of them don't understand that I have lost a family member and a cherished friend.  It's nice to know there are people at this website that do understand.  Thank you for that.
Newf4U

Offline schelmischekitty

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Re: Living Love (About Remembering)
« Reply #4 on: January 02, 2007, 02:49:01 am »
i cannot agree more about people not understanding.  i can't believe how often i hear "you've gotten that big black dog safe, and healthy, why don't you find him a new home now."  i often hear the same about sheeba "when are you going to find her a new home" (they're both "rescues" that just never left ha ha, they're the only two out of 21 puppies all hand raised, and 10 kittens that all but 4 were hand raised by me.  the puppies were all at once two litters that came back to back.  also, too many adult dogs to count in the past 4 years)  not only is this the 5th anniversary of my cat dying (i had her since second grade and she made it to my 11th grade year) but it is also the 15th anniversary of my grandpa, 12th of my grandma and 10th of my brother.  i count them all the same, because my pets are just like skin family, and my skin family is what i cherish the most.  people can be so insensitive sometimes, even if it isn't their fault.  thanks for sharing!
steffanie in atlanta

aiden (4), tristan (2), & maya (born sept. 17th)
axle-140ish-lb akita (4)
peanut-5lb, 11 months chihuahua
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