Dear God, receive at Your feet fair Sophia, Your creature who served Miss Ladybug as faithful companion. Into Your comfort allow her welcome among Your other soft and speechless creatures now returned to You, amusing and delighting You as they did us here on Earth. And please extend peace and solace to Miss Ladybug, so she may recall with growing acceptance and fewer tears the sweet countenance of Sophia, knowing that she is with You, awaiting her faithful human's some time future return. alexa kim
Thank you, alexa kim, for the very kind words. Sophia was my first pet that was all mine. I had her for 13 years, and knew her a year before that, as she was adopted from the pound by my best friend (along with one of her brothers and her mom). My best friend decided that was too much cat for one household, and I fell in love with her the first time I saw her, so my best friend kept Sophia until I was able to take her. It is gonna take a while to get used to my beautiful cat not being with me anymore... When my mom went with me to take her into the vet yesterday morning, they asked if I would like to have a paw print done - apparently something they do for their clients who have lost a pet. I'll have that, plus, my best friend took the photo I have posted (Sophia in my parents' backyard in a patch of primrose) and had a friend of hers who is an artist do it as a watercolor. I'll always have fond memories of her.
Miss Ladybug I am truly sorry for the loss of your little friend. A year and a half ago I lost my Border Collie Katie who was 17 years, 4months and 11 days old at her passing. It is amazing how attached we become to these gentle little creatures who give to us unconditional love without strings attached. They become a part of our family without us even realizing it. Perhaps this tribute will help ease the pain a little.
So this is where we part, My Friend, and you'll run on, around the bend, gone from sight, but not from mind, new pleasures there you'll surely find.
I will go on, I'll find the strength, life measures quality, not its length. One long embrace before you leave, share one last look, before I grieve.
There are others, that much is true, but they be they, and they aren't you. And I, fair, impartial, or so I thought, will remember well all you've taught.
Your place I'll hold, you will be missed, the fur I stroked, the nose I kissed. And as you journey to your final rest, take with you this...I loved you best.
Thank you, Dean. It's getting easier - I can talk about it without crying, but things like that poem you posted can still bring me to tears. She was much loved and is sorely missed. At least I know she wasn't alone when she passed - she was in bed with me, laying in the crook of my arm. I hated waking up that morning and seeing that she was gone. I was worried about her. She'd had surgery the week before to remove what turned out to be a cancerous tumor, and it at first looked like she was going to get better, until a few days after the surgery she stopped eating. I took her back to the vet, and they gave me something to try to stimulate her appetite (which also turned out to be a sedative...), but she died some time the next morning. All I know is she was still with me in the 1 o'clock hour, but she was gone when I awoke at 6:30.
Yes I do understand. The grieving process is not something we can get out of. My eyes still get a little moist when I look at pictures of Katie. I apologize if the poem upset you.
Something that helped me was to get another Border Collie. When the time is right you might consider doing the same.
It didn't upset me. More like I was touched by it. Sophia wasn't my only pet, and my situation right now precludes me from getting another cat. Right now, I have another cat, Junior, who is 8, and two larger dogs, Abby & Tipsy, who are littermates and 10 years old. Right now, I don't live alone and there are other pets in this house, and it would not make me popular around here to introduce a kitten into the mix ;-)
When the time is right, when I'm settled into a place of my own again after I know where I will be teaching, I'll get Junior another feline companion.
Miss Ladybug, My deepest sympathies on your loss of Sophia. I would like t share the poem Rainbow Bridge with you, I read it often, when I am remembering my "children" that have passed. The Rainbow Brige Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge. When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.
All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor. Those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind. They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent. His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.
You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.
Hello MissLadybug, I'm glad to hear you're doing a little better as each day goes by. (I lost 3 cats, all were elderly and one was suffering, over as many years a couple of years ago. Just my way of saying I understand.) Take your time. But you have other fur faces to caress, so that helps.
It has gotten easier. When I was a child, my mom's dachshund was put to sleep when I was in 6th grade. I knew my parents were considering it (he was very old and in poor health), and when I came home from the 6th grade ski trip to Scheffau, Austria and Shorty's bowls were no longer in the kitchen, I knew without having to ask. I also had a hamster die around that same time. Since then, I'd not ever had a pet die, not until December 2004 when I had another cat die, quite unexpectedly, right before I moved back to Texas. Sasha also died after having been given a sedative. I will never give another cat a sedative outside of any surgeries that they might need. I'd only had Sasha for a few years, so although I was upset by his death, I didn't take it anywhere near as hard as I took Sophia's. Junior, my other cat, has taken to following me around the house sometimes, and sitting right next to me, or between me and my laptop, as I surf the internet ;-)
10 comments:
Dear God, receive at Your feet fair Sophia, Your creature who served Miss Ladybug as faithful companion. Into Your comfort allow her welcome among Your other soft and speechless creatures now returned to You, amusing and delighting You as they did us here on Earth. And please extend peace and solace to Miss Ladybug, so she may recall with growing acceptance and fewer tears the sweet countenance of Sophia, knowing that she is with You, awaiting her faithful human's some time future return.
alexa kim
Thank you, alexa kim, for the very kind words. Sophia was my first pet that was all mine. I had her for 13 years, and knew her a year before that, as she was adopted from the pound by my best friend (along with one of her brothers and her mom). My best friend decided that was too much cat for one household, and I fell in love with her the first time I saw her, so my best friend kept Sophia until I was able to take her. It is gonna take a while to get used to my beautiful cat not being with me anymore... When my mom went with me to take her into the vet yesterday morning, they asked if I would like to have a paw print done - apparently something they do for their clients who have lost a pet. I'll have that, plus, my best friend took the photo I have posted (Sophia in my parents' backyard in a patch of primrose) and had a friend of hers who is an artist do it as a watercolor. I'll always have fond memories of her.
Miss Ladybug I am truly sorry for the loss of your little friend.
A year and a half ago I lost my Border Collie Katie who was 17 years, 4months and 11 days old at her passing. It is amazing how attached we become to these gentle little creatures who give to us unconditional love without strings attached. They become a part of our family without us even realizing it.
Perhaps this tribute will help ease the pain a little.
I Loved You Best
Copyright © Jim Willis 2002,
all rights reserved
So this is where we part, My Friend,
and you'll run on, around the bend,
gone from sight, but not from mind,
new pleasures there you'll surely find.
I will go on, I'll find the strength,
life measures quality, not its length.
One long embrace before you leave,
share one last look, before I grieve.
There are others, that much is true,
but they be they, and they aren't you.
And I, fair, impartial, or so I thought,
will remember well all you've taught.
Your place I'll hold, you will be missed,
the fur I stroked, the nose I kissed.
And as you journey to your final rest,
take with you this...I loved you best.
Thank you, Dean. It's getting easier - I can talk about it without crying, but things like that poem you posted can still bring me to tears. She was much loved and is sorely missed. At least I know she wasn't alone when she passed - she was in bed with me, laying in the crook of my arm. I hated waking up that morning and seeing that she was gone. I was worried about her. She'd had surgery the week before to remove what turned out to be a cancerous tumor, and it at first looked like she was going to get better, until a few days after the surgery she stopped eating. I took her back to the vet, and they gave me something to try to stimulate her appetite (which also turned out to be a sedative...), but she died some time the next morning. All I know is she was still with me in the 1 o'clock hour, but she was gone when I awoke at 6:30.
Yes I do understand. The grieving process is not something we can get out of. My eyes still get a little moist when I look at pictures of Katie.
I apologize if the poem upset you.
Something that helped me was to get another Border Collie. When the time is right you might consider doing the same.
It didn't upset me. More like I was touched by it. Sophia wasn't my only pet, and my situation right now precludes me from getting another cat. Right now, I have another cat, Junior, who is 8, and two larger dogs, Abby & Tipsy, who are littermates and 10 years old. Right now, I don't live alone and there are other pets in this house, and it would not make me popular around here to introduce a kitten into the mix ;-)
When the time is right, when I'm settled into a place of my own again after I know where I will be teaching, I'll get Junior another feline companion.
Miss Ladybug, My deepest sympathies on your loss of Sophia.
I would like t share the poem Rainbow Bridge with you, I read it often, when I am remembering my "children" that have passed.
The Rainbow Brige
Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.
When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.
All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor. Those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.
They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent. His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.
You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.
Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....
Author unknown...
Hello MissLadybug, I'm glad to hear you're doing a little better as each day goes by. (I lost 3 cats, all were elderly and one was suffering, over as many years a couple of years ago. Just my way of saying I understand.) Take your time. But you have other fur faces to caress, so that helps.
Chrisntx~
Now it makes sense about the name of the place who my vet deals with for cremation - "Rainbow Bridge". I'd never seen that piece before...
Alexa kim~
It has gotten easier. When I was a child, my mom's dachshund was put to sleep when I was in 6th grade. I knew my parents were considering it (he was very old and in poor health), and when I came home from the 6th grade ski trip to Scheffau, Austria and Shorty's bowls were no longer in the kitchen, I knew without having to ask. I also had a hamster die around that same time. Since then, I'd not ever had a pet die, not until December 2004 when I had another cat die, quite unexpectedly, right before I moved back to Texas. Sasha also died after having been given a sedative. I will never give another cat a sedative outside of any surgeries that they might need. I'd only had Sasha for a few years, so although I was upset by his death, I didn't take it anywhere near as hard as I took Sophia's. Junior, my other cat, has taken to following me around the house sometimes, and sitting right next to me, or between me and my laptop, as I surf the internet ;-)
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