Working on my grieving book. When an animal you love dies…

So, sad reader, take a breath. Take a leap of faith with me, and imagine for a moment that it is possible to take something beautiful, something lasting, something in the realm of mystical experience out of so sad and wrenching a thing as seeing the animal you love move inevitably towards the edge of life.

Because it is possible. Death is awful, death is sad. Death is awesome, death is beautiful. It is life’s partner. One cannot exist without the other.

Our lives with these animals we love so much is beyond language, beyond our frail understanding of things, and our connections to them are wondrous, even sacred. There is grief, for sure, but that isn’t all there might be. There can be something else, if you are open to it, something wonderful and uplifting that you take from it, and that you keep for yourself, that is a translucent blend of memory and feeling, and that is eternal, written in the mysterious space that connects us to these creatures in so powerful a way. Take a moment and look for it. Nobody can take the sadness and the grief away, nor should they try, but I would ask you to consider that our love of animals is nothing but a gift, and it keeps on giving, even when they go home.

Going Home. Finding Peace When Pets Die.