Love.
I'll begin and end this note with Love.
...and in between I hope, I trust, that this letter will bring peace to your heart.
Saying our final goodbyes to a member of our family is with out question, the most heart aching thing we will ever be faced with. ( hands down the hardest thing )
One year ago today, I said goodbye to the most joyful, make me belly laugh, carefree dog whom we lovingly named Booboo.
You may have seen him, if not...
Here's a flashback of Booboo one year after his paralysis
I'm no stranger to this inevitable process, been through it many times.
Each experience unique in circumstance, yet equal in pain.
I'm also no stranger to seeing how other families say their goodbyes.
As a Practitioner, I become close to the family (people and animals) and often become apart of the "goodbye" process.
Easing Casey's transition with Response5
...so I need you to listen up, seriously!
Please place the following truths into your heart.
Truth #1 ~ Whatever decision you make comes from Love.
Truth #2 ~ Because it comes from Love, it cant be judged (by you), so leave the guilt on the shelf for another time in your life...this experience and all the decisions leading up to it comes from Love. Right? Right.
Truth #3 ~ Love includes respect, dignity, compassion, and stepping up as the highest possible spokesperson in their life.
Truth #4 ~ Because it comes from Love, respect, dignity, compassion, and stepping up as the highest possible spokesperson in their life, it can't be judged by others.
This is a personal, intimate decision.
Dismiss any perceived judgement ( by anyone! ) as simply a lack of experience to Love as deeply as you have.
Truth #5 ~ Create a ceremony. Let me say that once more. Create a ceremony.
It will give you Peace. ( read what I did for Booboo below )
Truth #6 ~ It's going to hurt like hell and at some point you'll second guess your decisions.
Truth #7 ~ Although you may wander into doubt and perhaps even guilt about your
decision making, you'll only need to stop for a second and remember that
your Goodbye was solely and wholly guided by LOVE.
Booboo's ceremony:
Coming from that place of all encompassing Love, I felt the need to honour Booboo with a ceremony before his passing. One which we both participated in ( along with his brother Izacc ) and guided by a dear dear friend whose heritage is rooted in the Indigenous culture.
I took this idea of ceremony from a woman named Pattye whose Church background lead her to a family gathering of prayer and blessing for Chester, their beloved Miniature Schnauzer.
She had planned the ceremony (prayers, eulogy, music and candles included ) months before his passing as she knew when the moment came she would be lost in grief and unable to fulfill her promise to Chester.
I had the great privilege of seeing the outcome from her well thought out ceremony...her peaceful heart!
For me, the ceremony included the traditional smudging of our home and of myself, Booboo and Izacc. That in itself created peace within.
Booboo was gifted a tiny red cloth medicine pouch tied simply with twine. The medicine pouch is for protection, guidance and speed to the next realm of his experience. I placed it lovingly on his collar. He is buried with it along with a crystal angel between his paws.
In the past I choose cremation, but for reasons I'm not quite sure of, Booboo needed to stay whole.
We brought him home after the trip to the Vets which allowed Izacc to discover for himself that Booboo had passed, wrapped him in cloth and placed him in a wooden crate in which I had wrote on the inside:
My Joy.
My Laughter.
My Beautiful Friend.
I Love You.
Booboo now resides under a Pine tree marked simply with a child's pinwheel.
The slightest breeze results in the spinning of the pinwheel...a reminder of his playful, joyful soul.
LOVE.
To your dog's life,
Debi