All Is Well....

I found this again today (below). Someone had sent it to me at the time of my father's death and I remember it gave me great comfort then so I am hoping it will bring comfort to those of you who have not previously read it. I know that it was written with human mortals in mind,but I am sure that Mr. Holland would not mind if we used it in relation to our furry ones too as I am sure the message holds true for all living beings that we love. I especially like the last three lines; they are keeping me going at the moment.
Love and peace to all of you
B
x

All Is Well

Death is nothing at all,
I have only slipped into the next room
I am I and you are you
Whatever we were to each other, that we are still.
Call me by my old familiar name,
Speak to me in the easy way which you always used
Put no difference in your tone,
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow
Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household word that it always was,
Let it be spoken without effect, without the trace of shadow on it.
Life means all that it ever meant.
It it the same as it ever was, there is unbroken continuity.
Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?
I am waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near,
Just around the corner.
All is well.

Henry Scott Holland
1847-1918
Canon of St Paul's Cathedral

Help! Will Her Spirit 'find' Me?

Dear friends at LS
I haven’t posted anything lately on LS, although I have been reading the board every day. I am sad to see so many new members to this family of folks who have lost our furry ones, becasue it means that there are more people feeling sad our there, but I am so glad to see that they have all come to the right place and hope that they can find the same comfort that I have found here. I’m just sorry I have not been able to provide any words of comfort myself in the last few days.
The truth is, I am coming slightly unhinged and I am struggling terribly with something so I’m going to write about it here and see what you think about this:
Tomorrow evening will be exactly two weeks since my beloved Ryddley crossed over. This in itself if bad enough and the loss of her is becoming ever more apparent in my life with every passing day. I think somewhere inside me, some part of me that a psychiatrist would label ‘denial’ thought that maybe she was just away, or unwell, and that I would hear the familiar pawfall and squawk for breakfast, if only I could wake up from this very bad dream.
But this is not the case and I am bereft, and to make matters worse I leave this house in which I lived for eight years with Ryddley, and the garden in which she is buried in just three nights’ time, late on Wednesday evening. I am moving an entire continent away and there is nothing I can do about it.
Since I buried her in the garden under her favourite bush, I have taken great comfort from going out there throughout the day and sitting with her at dusk, the time she passed, and talking to her. I don’t know if she hears me, but I do know that Bertie (neighbour’s cat and friend of Ryd), lies on her grave every day (he never lay there before) and I feel like maybe he ‘senses’ her presence.
What is tearing me to pieces is that very soon –far too soon- I will leave here, and leave her. At least I will leave her physical body here. And what I want to know is, does it make any difference? I was telling Janet today that I am reading/watching every shred of anything I can about the paranormal and the afterlife and it seems to me that spirits seem to hang around the places that are most familiar to them. This being the case, will Ryd’s little spirit wander around this house and this garden looking for me and wondering if I have gone and abandoned her all over again? Or will she be able to find me an entire continent away? I don’t pretend to understand anything at all about the hereafter and how it works, but I am positively distraught at the idea of not being able to ‘visit’ her every day, and the idea that she will not be able to find me.
I know this sounds insane and everyone else here seems to be a good deal more rational than I am, but I really am quite traumatised by the prospect of this and there is nothing I can do. My mother is very ill, an entire continent away, and as I was away during my father’s last years and at his death, I really must pay attention to the living and do right by my mother. I don’t know if in the history of the world anyone has wanted to stay in a house simply to be near the grave of their little furry one, but if they haven’t then I am the first and so be it.
Anyway, I wanted to know if anyone has a take on this as it is tearing me apart. Does it matter where I am geographically? Since my father died (also on a different continent) I have not had a sense of him at all and wonder if this has anything to do with geography.
Am I nuts? Can anybody give me any insight that will make me feel any better about this? It really is too traumatic to lose my beloved kitty and move house/continent all in the space of two weeks.
Sorry to sound so mad (I know I do) but I am really so tearful about this. And sorry that I have been of scant comfort to all of you who have given me so many words of solace in the last two weeks. It has been all I can do to simply function in a day this past week, never mind pack up my entire life into boxes and –today- pack all of Ryd’s things into a box, which tore me apart as you can imagine. I had left her bowl and all her things exactly as they were, for reasons I can’t exactly quantify, but packing it all up today just really finalised everything for me and I am just beside myself.
Anyone have any ideas about the mobility and ‘homing’ abilities of spirits in the afterlife? I guess none of us knows for sure, but some of you seem to have a keener sense of these things than I do and I would sure be grateful for anyone’s opinions right now.
My love and thanks to all of you and to the newcomers on the site I can only say my heartfelt condolences. I really know what you are going through and you truly have come to the right place.
Sorry for rambling.
Hugs to you all
B
x

I Need Compelling Evidence Of Heaven

Fellow animal lovers, I have read your posts and wept for and with you. we all seem to be going through such unspeakable agony. I also can't seem to stop crying at the moment and I feel like my heart is breaking in two from the pain. I lost my kittycat four nights ago on 06 June 05 and I am wracked with guilt and horror about her last minutes at the vet's and wracked with guilt about all the things I did and didn't do in the last year of her life. I just want the time bag. I want my cat back! I want to tell her I love her just one last time. The only thing that could possibly help me now is to know -and believe- that she IS in heaven and that I WILL see her again. Do any of you know this for sure? The problem is that my own faith and belief are so shaky that since my father died five years ago I haven't been sure what I think regarding the afterlife. But this pain is so big and the loss so much, I can't eat, I can't sleep, I just want to have my sweet fat little Ryd with me (yes, I know it's a curious name; I didn't name her, but she was a complete honeybun). So please, please, if any of you have compelling evidence to support the thing that everyone is telling me, that being that she is in heaven or at the Rainbow Bridge, and that I WILL seee her again, please tell me. The other cat in the house (it isn't my cat; it's a neighbour's but he's always hanging out here) seems very distressed by her loss, too, and keeps lying on her grave. Does he know something I don't know, or can he see something I can't see? Or am I just clutching at straws? Help me! I feel like I'm breaking in two. Thanks.