We all process loss differently, and for me it helped to write about Lady. It made me feel connected to her, and in a small way, it helped me thank her for a lifetime of love.
Some of us need to talk to friends about our loss, and some need solitude for their very private grief. Your innermost support group is of course the others who also knew and loved your pet. Hug each other, cry together, and try to share your thoughts about your very special dog -- especially difficult to do for the first several days.
I think reading dog stories is also very cathartic and will bring forth all the love and tears you feel for your own dog. For as unique as each dog is, the joy they bring us is quite universal.
I hope you will read Golden Reflections and perhaps my Lady will make you smile. To order, click order!
Our good friend, David Bennett, acclaimed attorney, poet and tennis captain, just sent me the following poem.
Losing Pets, Finding
New Friends
Loving a pet that has died is not love lost
because the love of pets continues anew
with all the new guys we will get to know;
we will compare their personalities to those
pets who are no longer with us day to day,
the ones we will always carry in our hearts.
Some of the most satisfying memories we
can have are those memories of the pets
we have loved during our lives, pets that
gave us much while asking only to be fed,
allowing us to shower them with affection,
absorbing our attention as we held them.
As we love the pets still with us, remember
the pets who were our friends, and reflect
on how and when pets came into our lives,
we should anticipate that there will be new
pet friends, not to replace the pets we lost,
but because of the way those pets loved us.
In memory of Frank the Cat, a good friend
J. David BennettMarch 4, 2010
For additional thoughts on pet bereavement, and another wonderful dog book, Maggie, The Dog Who Changed My Life by Dawn Kairns, go to her website: http://www.dawnkairns.com
