Grief is an individual and sacred thing, everyone should do it in the way that works for them. The Quakers taught me to celebrate life, not only to mourn death and loss. This idea has helped to alter my life, it was internalized and became a part of my feelings about life.

It comes back to me again and again. Life is sacred and precious, I am grateful to it. For six or seven years, Lenore sat on the sofa behind my desk while I wrote, she became a part of my creative process. She would hop up onto the couch, sigh deeply and usually go to sleep as I worked. Every now and then, I would turn to her and talk to her and her tail would thump and she would go back to sleep.

Fate is very different than Lenore, she rarely sleeps but sometimes rests. The dogs in our house are not allowed on the furniture, the only exception has been Lenore on her sofa in my study.  In the past week or two, Fate has been coming quietly into my study and hopping up on the sofa.

I was startled the first few times to see her there, and told her to get off. She keeps coming back. Curiously, she never tried to get up on any of the other furniture. You can make of this what you want, I believe she either smells or senses Lenore’s role in my life and/or presence in the room. Animals know things we cannot explain or understand.

After the third or fourth time, I realized something was happening that was larger than I was seeing. I stopped chasing her off the couch. She is never as still as Lenore, she hops on and off to investigate every sound, movement, door opening, rustle of air on the house. She wants to see where Maria is, where Red is, if there is food being dropped, if anyone has come by for her to greet, if a sheep is within a mile.

But if I am working, I will increasingly turn around to see her watching me closely, sometimes sleeping. So, a writing dog, like all my dogs. And an art dog, a supporter of the arts. During the say, she is either quilting with Maria, of, if Maria is busy, writing with me.

Given the choice, I celebrate a dog like Lenore, am grateful for dogs like Fate and Red. What do I have to mourn? As the Quakers suggested, life is precious, life is sacred. It is worth celebrating, not mourning. I hold Lenore and all of the spirits of the dead in the light. Crisis and mystery are just around the corner.

You get the dog you need. Given the chance, they become what we wish them to be. That is what they do.