Tonight I wanted to take a quiet moment in reflection of those that have touched my heart and live on there though no longer on this earth. It is important to me that from time to time I simply look back at pictures, cards and mementos of my past and think about those that have affected my life.
I have always had a strong connection to animals and as many of my readers know I am even working on a charity book called Rescue Me - Animal Anthology. It is a collection of stories and poems about saving animals and being saved by them. Just two days ago I interviewed the foster / forever mom of a sweet senior boxer with cancer that didn't have much more then an expected month left.
Her love for Roxy the boxer was intense and could be felt instantly even over the phone. You could hear the pain in her voice as she told me about the life Roxy had experienced before being dumped in a shelter and how she had been doted on since being rescued replacing the pain with compassion. I typed up her story right after I got off the phone and had planned to send it off for approval today. I was even planning to go and maybe meet Roxy tomorrow and take a few pictures of her for the book.
I was, however, cut off from my plans when I saw the heartbreaking news announced on Facebook today that her time came up sooner than expected and she has now passed away. Her cancer was completely preventable but by the time she was rescued it was too late. It immediately brought forth the memory of a tiny feral kitten I attempted to save just a few years ago. He had been discarded by his mother and we brought him inside sure he would never make it through the night.
When I woke up I checked in on him and he actually opened his eyes and looked up at me. I named him Miracle just for surviving that long. I called in sick that day to stay home with him. I lay in bed with his tiny body lying against the skin on my chest. He could feel my heart beat and for a brief time he even purred for me.
I dipped my finger in milk and would put a drop in front of his itty bitty mouth. He managed to get a drop or two down but mostly he just slept. Around mid afternoon I got up and made a quick lunch before coming back to put him on my chest again. I stroked his little head and told him I was so happy to have found him. Again he purred for a moment but then he laid his head to the side and stopped purring. He went to sleep and quietly left this world behind. I felt him take his last breath and kissed the top of his head.
With tears in my eyes I took him out to a beautiful spot near Red Rock Canyon and buried him where the sunset can be seen in all its wonderful color scheme. I still feel the tears when I remember him and they are made fresh again when I see the stories of others experiencing losses of friends both two and four legged of their own.
I know that the animals watch over us the same way that loved people from our past do and in keeping with tonight's theme of lost loved one I want to make a small thank you to my father that has been watching over e my entire life and for the last 6 years from heaven. I feel his presence daily and I know that Miracle and Roxy and my beloved other pets and those of all the animal lovers I know are keeping a protective eye on those of us still here until One day we can meet again.
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