I recently said hello to new kittens when I brought two home, but today, I said goodbye to an old friend. My 13 year old “baby” girl, Stella, suddenly started having severe and painful mobility issues, and I could see in her eyes and in the way her body betrayed her that it was time to let her go. I think grief is the last act of love we do for someone who passes away from illness because it means we bear the sorrow in our hearts rather than have them carry the pain in their minds and bodies. How true that is in this case.
My heart is broken after 6 years with one of the lovey-est, sweetest dogs ever. Her first seven years were spent in neglect before she came home from the shelter with me, so she soaked up every bit of love and attention she could but always gave more than she got.
Walking through the door for the first time today and her not being here was a stark reminder of how much I’ll miss the days when she sang and bounced on her hind legs when her favorite people walked in or how she used to spin in circles when she wanted to play. It makes me smile to think about how she’d stand and stare at me at exactly 8am/pm to notify me it was her meal time.
Most of all it does my heart good to know that she is at peace and without pain and, for that, I will hold my grief in tension with gratitude for the time I got to be her person.
I love you, Stella Bella. Rest easy, baby girl.
Until next time,
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