[Dailydrool] Dailydrool Digest, Vol 150, Issue 23

[Susan Scott-Chambers]

I've only been lurking lately, but I have been trying to keep up with
everyone!  I love the "you might have a hound problem if" thread!  And it
seems like to many are having to make those agonizing choices about their
beloved pets.  So sorry you have to go through all that!  From time to time,
I post this essay, shared with me by Cathi Cox of the Waterway Gang.  She
sent it to me when my beloved Jolie made her journey to the Bridge (it'll be
five years ago this coming Tuesday).  Since then, I have shared it with many
friends and I believe it has eased many aching hearts.

Also, Ozark Mtn Basset Rescue has fallen behind in the Animal Rescue Site
voting.  Please vote and vote often!  You can vote from your home computer,
work computer, cell phone, whatever.

Love from Little Rock,
Susan with
Gigi, Beau & Noodle
Jolie ATB 2-22-06
Sophie ATB 4-17-02


UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN......

I know what you're thinking. You think I'm dead. Because you cannot see me
with your human eye, cannot feel me with your hands or hold me in your arms
you think I am gone forever. You recall how I looked when I left this place
and you cannot remotely imagine that I could possibly be alive in another
place. You are racked and torn by the pain of our separation and it blinds
you to that which is right in front of you ... me.

How many times since I left your immediate sight have you been told that I'm
dead and you should "get over it?" How many times have you cried yourself to
sleep because you feel like an outcast, believing you're supposed to get
over me because that's what people say is normal but somehow you can't and
no one seems to understand?

How many times have you put yourself through such excruciating pain because
you aren't willing to consider that I am not, by any means, dead?

I want you to do me a favor and go back in time with me. Remember the
glorious day you brought me home - was I not the most intriguing creature
you'd ever met? Did I not make you laugh and giggle? Did I not look at you
with such adoration that you wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of
your life with me? I wanted this too.

Remember the days when I was in my prime and we did many things together.
You were so proud of me! I was a good friend and I took care of you when you
cried, were angry or felt down and unhappy. When you didn't have a lot of
time for me because of your obligations, I waited patiently for you. I was
always there when you needed me. Did I not look at you with such acceptance
and patience that at times you felt perhaps a bit unworthy? You were never
unworthy in my eyes.

Remember when age crept up on me, my bones became stiff and my movements
slower. Still I met you at the door when you came home and followed you
around the house. We'd been together for so long, I was your very best
friend regardless of what you were doing, saying, thinking. Did I not look
at you with such kindness and understanding that you felt overwhelmed? I
couldn't get enough of you.

Remember the last time we saw each other with earthly eyes. You tried to be
brave but I knew you were crying ... I know you so well. Better than anyone
else in the whole world. Did I not look at you with such pure trust and love
that you yearned only to hold me close and keep me with you always? Did you
not promise that you would love me forever? I believed you.

If this is so then why have you let me go by thinking I no longer exist?

Remember the depth in my eyes all those times I looked at you with
adoration, acceptance, patience, trust and love. Who created this depth and
love? Would the Creator diminish the song of our laughter which was created
in the name of love? I am no longer an earthly figure, this is true. My body
was only part of who I really am. My body would have been but a mere shell
on earth if it were not filled to overflowing with my soul, my spirit, my
loving light. When we met you thought I was cute, sweet, pretty and
adorable. But what kind of relationship would we have had if this is all
that I'd been? How could you have loved me if I'd had no spiritual
substance?

We are all made up of energy which resides far deep down inside of us, it is
our core, our soul, spirit and loving light. It is the energy that is all of
life ... it has no beginning, it has no end. It simply is and always will be
and without it there is no life. You can't see it with the naked eye nor can
you hold it in your hand, it is simply a certain knowing that this energy
does exist. It's a knowing just as you know that our love existed on earth -
you couldn't see our love in a solid sense, you couldn't gather it all up
and confine it to one place. But you *knew* it existed. There was no doubt
in your mind.

They demand you get over me, insisting that I'm dead and you'll never see me
again because animals don't go to Heaven. Oh really? I'm here to tell you
different. You were worthy of my love and undying devotion on earth as I was
of yours. Do you really believe this love would be snatched from us
*forever* by a loving Creator simply because I wasn't human? Was I not a
living, breathing creation with personality? How could I have been so if I
didn't possess the energy of soul, spirit and loving light? And if this
energy is and always will be, then how can it be that I am dead? If my core
is not of the energy that is all of life then I was never alive to begin
with. But you know better.

You cry because you miss me, this I understand. I miss you too - I miss the
belly rubs, hugs and kisses that we shared. But life does go on beyond these
wonderful, fulfilling physical connections. I came to this place to live a
whole new life, not because I didn't love you anymore or because I wanted
something better. I came here because it was time for me to go to the next
phase of my existence, something all living creatures must do eventually. It
is the normal progression of life. I was not taken away from you because you
cannot take away that which was never owned. My presence in your life was
and is a gift to be cherished and honored just as I cherish and honor you.

Life is not simply about being born into a body, living a certain number of
years and then dying. Energy cannot die. We are blessed with time in a body
so that we can learn, share and grow. It prepares us for the next phase of
our eternal life. The body holds within it the true life force of our
existence...our soul, spirit and loving light. Without these our bodies
would be empty, blank, void of feeling and expression. Without our energy we
would indeed be dead and could never have experienced our love for each
other.

You say that all you have left are memories. Not so. You see, when I took
leave of my earthly body I left a little something behind for you. You can't
touch it, hold it or examine it for what I left behind is far too
uninhibited for confinement. I left behind a piece of my soul. I placed it
right next to your own which is quite fitting as we were always side by side
in our earthly life together. I love you too much to have left you with
nothing but memories which tend to fade and grow cloudy as the years go by.
I love you too much to have vanished without a trace. How selfish it would
be of me to remove love and light from your life. I understand your tears,
each one you shed is testament to your love for me and I am honored and
humbled. But don't forget the good things we shared - remember and smile.
This is an honor for me as well. And when you need me I will be here. Close
your eyes, relax, take slow, deep breaths and picture me in your mind. Shut
off the world and your notions of what death is and give me a chance. Look
for the subtle signs I send you. Don't stop being proud of me, I am a friend
to be proud of, I am still your friend and soul mate. Don't memorialize the
death of my body but instead honor and celebrate my never-ending life for it
is eternal and forever as is my love for you.

Until we meet again...

Author: Terri Onorato
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