daily haiku
the pain of bereavement
life without you moves on
my heart is full of loving you
the pain of bereavement
life without you moves on
my heart is full of loving you
daily haiku
the gift of healing
there is no greater love
than that from our friends
there is no greater love
than that from our friends
On June 15th my dear friend and companion, Snowy, became ill. I took her to the vet and she got worse so rapidly that we had to put her to sleep. The vet says there is no test the confirm it, but he thought strongly it was Addison's Disease. It comes on suddenly and progresses rapidly. I think I was in shock for a number of days and pretty depressed. Then and now I still "see" her around the house in her usual places. It is getting better.
Since Peter died she had been my faithful companion, sitting on my lap at night and watching TV and filling my life with her demands for daily living. I had little beds for her all over the house where she napped, to avoid the cat hair problem! She loved to get a massage in the morning before she took her after breakfast nap, which is unusual, as cats in general don't like to lie on their backs; but she purred all the time and swatted my hand when I was through as though to say "We're not finished yet."
When I went to knit with my friend Victoria on Friday I had a wonderful surprise. She showed me a portrait she had painted and underneath there was another painting. I asked if I could see it too, and she said yes. It was the most beautiful picture of Snowy - so true to life, and a lovely tribute to my beautiful cat friend. I cried when I saw it & then while I was knitting the strangest thing happened. I kept looking at the picture and something in me was healed. I could not explain that feeling ever. Maybe it was the love of friendship; maybe Snowy's spirit came through to comfort me. Who knows? But I have felt better each day since then.
Thank you Victoria.. for one of the best gifts a friend has ever given me.
I must say the painting is so similar. What grabbed me was how your spirit was lifted by this gesture of friendship. Shivers went down my spine at the beauty of that moment. Like souls connecting.
ReplyDeleteDear Chris, KleinsteMotte e-mailed me to tell me about your blog and about your loss of Snowy. She knew I would want to read your posting because I, too, have known the deeply unconditional and constant love of cats and have had to let several of them go.
ReplyDeleteOne of them, Dulcy, died on July 6, 1989. Two days later she began to give me her memoir in which she recounted our life together. The first words that came were "At the end, all that matters is love. My love for my human and hers for me. I have planted the memories of our life together in her heart. She will find them there when I am gone and they will comfort her."
Later, Crown published Dulcy's book under the title "A Cat's Life: Dulcy's Story." As she gave me this story I remembered our whole life together and rejoiced that she had chosen me for her human.
I so hope that the memories you have of Snowy and of the life the two of you shared will comfort you. And I believe that she is with you in a special way and revealed that to you as you gazed lovingly at the painting your friend gave you.
Grieving the loss of one loved so deeply takes a long, long time. But Snowy is with you always. Peace.
Victoria certainly captured the essence of Snowy as you've described him in your email and haiku. What a wonderful gift. Yes, friendship heals. Our pets give us unconditional love and we need that. And friends give us love also, and we need that too.
ReplyDelete