Posted on 06/26/2012 5:41:10 PM PDT by destinedforheaven
In a very difficult time in my life I was suffering from grief. I knew that with grieving you have to go through it, not over nor under it. I had lost a beloved pet after a long ordeal trying to prolong his life. His end was very unpleasant and traumatic. Jack was before my children and I doted on him for 8 years. My attachment to him was extremely close that it truly felt like a family member had passed away. A lot of people had no idea of the utter despair and helplessness I felt at losing my pet. I felt embarrassed at the degree of my sadness because I hadn’t grieved like this for the passing of other extended family members. Adopted animals truly do become a part of your family.
With 3 days of crying both night and day the tears continued to fall beyond my control. What was wrong with me? I needed to get back to work but just couldn’t stop feeling such utter sadness. The curtains were drawn and I sat there so pathetic in what I would call the lowest moment of my life.
Never had I experienced anything so heartbreaking. Distraught would be the best word description for the emotional state I was in. Gut wrenching sobs continued to come out of me that I never even heard knocking at my locked front door. I had started to pray out loud over and over “It’s too much…God, please help me!” As hard as this is to describe exactly, the pain lifted finally and the tears abruptly stopped falling. I keenly knew that I was not alone in the room any longer. I looked around my living room not seeing anything, but feeling...
(Excerpt) Read more at destinedforheaven.wordpress.com ...
October 31, 1988, I held my friend and guard dog of 11 years while the vet injected the fatal dose...would not hurt the dog, he said, I still doubt that, but some of these animals never leave their special place in your life...and so it is nearly 24 years later...alas...
Good thing you gave him a nice name instead.
: )
I found that I didn’t want to bury Bailey’s ashes for that entire summer. I kept them by my favorite chair near his picture and the clay paw imprint the vet school made for us. Finally before the ground froze, I buried the ashes under the pine tree by our other 2 doberman’s ashes. I planted a special tree for the first one who died at 14.
Lost my Spanish Mustang mare to a stroke some years ago.Maggie was the best horse I ever owned,and a real friend who worked with me.Still miss her after all this time.
Had to put our little dog down yesterday. She was 14, but this was still rather sudden. Miss her so much. This was the second dog we had to put to sleep in six months. Sigh.
My heart hurts.
Thanks for the article. I don’t care about whether it was posted completely or not, how silly for people to complain.
Oh madison10 I had to make the decision to put my dog down in January. It was just awful and everyone cried like crazy for a long time.
We were never going to get another dog ever, but, we couldn’t take not having a dog in our life. After a few month we found a breeder that was near us that just happened to have a Westie. Well you know what happened- yep and she is a good girl and we now live comparing our little one with the one that passed away.
God Bless you in your mourning. Please know that there is life after death.
I like my poster:
"Dogs leave footprints on your heart". ;)
Our old Akita Inu is 12 1/2. He has neurological problems in his rear, has trouble getting up and is slow and limping when he does. The vet keeps telling us we have done well and given him 2 years more than he should have had. He is still a happy boy, bright-eyed and smiling. We love him dearly and tell him daily how he has been a perfect dog his entire life.
Because he has been so wonderful, we will grieve when he passes and then, we will go out and adopt another dog in honor of our present boy. Not another Akita Inu, though, because we don’t want to have expectations that cannot be met.
We talk about a German Shorthair Pointer, a breed my husband grew up with. Noble dogs and a worthy successor. We are dog people, so that is simply the way it is.
I have a 17 year old cat named Bailey whose sister died of cancer years ago. I have her ashes in my office next to her clay paw imprint - I told my family to bury the ashes with me when I go. I adopted after she died and was a 2 animal house until 2007 when I adopted 2 dogs, Maggie and Reagan (guess who they are named after!) The pain really is less when there are other animals. At least for me.
I am sorry for your loss.
As to your question, I do not know.
The Lord works on a different level than we do. It may be that your prayers have been answered, in that at least you are still here.
Grief is sometimes literally more than life can bear. Maybe you, too, would have gone without His help.
And, maybe, you have helped others by keeping on living; quite possibly without your even knowing it.
Recently, I read about someone who jumped off the Golden Gate, 3 miles from his home.
They found his note. It said “If even one person looks at me and smiles, I will not jump.”
I guess no one smiled.
Maybe, over these four years, at some stranger, you once smiled. And saved their life.
The Lord really does work in mysterious ways. I do not understand; I can not understand; I simply try to have Faith.
Thank you everyone for your kind words.
We like to adopt soon after a loss. Sometimes it’s a few months, but last time it was 2 weeks. We like to have 2 dogs at a time. Now I want a third. Here is the rescue puppy I want to go visit soon and see if we are a match. I predict we are!
http://www.ildoberescue.com/available/dobermans/puppies/callie/
This reminds me of a story that I heard about Mother Thressa where she was walking around a city (SF, I think) and commented on how sad it was because there was no love there.
How would the world be different if people were not starved for love?
BFL
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