Goodbye, friend

Last fall, I wrote a post about our all-too-short time with the animals in our lives. At the time, my parents' little terrier-mix had begun having seizures and coughing at any exertion. For a brief while, Sandy improved but, a week ago, the seizure frequency increased, she became frightened rather than shaking off each episode, and she could no longer control bodily functions as she seized. It was time, and she told my mom in no uncertain terms.

Mom and Sandy

Mom said she felt at peace after she made the call to the vet. She, Sandy and my dad spent a lovely weekend together. The weather was good, I cut up steak in small chunks so her very few teeth could chew. Mom fixed her lots of scrambled eggs with cheese. They snuggled on the sofa and in their favorite chairs, with Mom massaging her for hours on end. I took some pictures on Sunday and will have one framed for Mom to keep.

When Monday morning came my dad, who was scheduled to go to the vet with Mom and Sandy, needed to go to the doctor.. So, I went instead. I used some lavender essential oil, as Sandy had had a couple of severe seizures overnight. I also began Reiki, as she was shaking almost uncontrollably, a habit that began about 18 months ago, and continued it throughout the next hour.


We both stayed with her and our vets - family friends we have known forever - were in tears, too. Sandy was most calm. Her eyes, always huge and brown, were calm as I held her. Her shaking was absolutely gone for the first time in months. She looked in my eyes the entire time the anesthesia was taking effect and she simply went to sleep. Once the second injection was administered, her heart stopped almost immediately. It was tired. It was time.

We planned to lay Sandy to rest in my parents' backyard, where she could keep watch over the neighborhood cats. But, a family friend who helps them a lot in the yard and house offered to take her to his home in the country and lay her to rest with all his animals. She is now among many friends and I know she is also sticking close to Mom, as she has mentioned hearing her footsteps coming up the stairs several times this week.

Thank you, Sandy. You were a beautiful little companion. The hole you left is huge. Keep watch over Mom and Dad and visit when you can. You are missed.

Too tired to even hold herself up for long

Resting

Of hope and despair

Over the past decade, I have studied Reiki - formally and on my own. I received my Reiki I attunement in 2003 in Tulsa, then again from a long-time friend several years ago. Just this past summer, I received my Reiki II attunement in Tulsa. It was a wonderful experience and came at a perfect time - my first weekend since becoming an empty-nester. It set the stage perfectly for this next stage of my life.

I took another step this weekend when I participated in an Animal Reiki workshop.

In all honesty, the class was nothing like I expected. I alternately felt sad, frustrated, irritated and restless. I firmly believe there are many paths and I disagree with those who say one path or the other is wrong while another is true or right. At the same time, I am adamant in my belief in training to work with animals. I don't just mean watch a television celebrity and imitate what they do or read a book and consider yourself a trainer/behaviorist. The animals always, always pay for that ignorance in the end and humans often pay a price as well. As a friend mentioned to me just yesterday, ego can be a huge boulder when working with animals. We cannot move another person's boulder; we can only chip away at our own.

So I tried to just keep breathing. I tried to focus on my own mission, which was to spend some time with dogs and cats at a shelter and - hopefully - bring them some feelings of peace and comfort. To an extent, I succeeded. It was a beautiful weekend, the last warm days of autumn. The sun was shining. Hawks hunted in the woods to the east of the shelter, their calls loud as they flew high above us. The animals welcomed us and we spend a good amount of time sitting with them, offering them what we could. My Wednesday post is devoted to photos of the dogs I met. For today, please offer prayers and gentle white light to shelter animals everywhere. They need us each and every day.