Dugan-gone 5 Weeks Today, Blessing set for 9/24/06 Options

[Krissyo]

It has been five weeks today since Dugan was pts. It is also the 2nd birthday of my daughter's cat, Jasper. It was so hard going to her apartment and bringing cat toys for Jasper's birthday. She did not want me to do it but I told her that Jasper is here and we have to honor that. I did pretty good until I noticed one of Jasper's bowls was identical to one that Dugan had. I made it to the elevator before I lost it and started crying. My daughter was so grateful that we had come over and I know she did not expect that we would get toys. It was really hard but I wanted to honor those that are still here as all of us know that we never know how much time we have with our furbabies.

If all goes well, the blessing for all three of my babies will be tomorrow afternoon. I will say prayers and light candles for all of your furbabies during the Blessing. You have no idea what all of you have meant to me over the past five weeks. Everyone gives so much support even when you are all hurting also. I don't know how I would have come this far without all of you. I still am in so much pain and grief that it seems like it will never end, and if I am being honest with myself, I doubt if it ever will end until I can see my Dugie at the Rainbow Bridge. I just pray that someday it will be a pain I can live with on a day to day basis.

I know I am not ready to consider another cat, maybe I never will be but I felt I needed to do something! I found a cat on the Help For Homeless Pets website that was looking for someone to sponsor his grooming as he had bad mats. He was a senior citizen looking for a new home and they thought the grooming would make him more attractive. My daughter and I went half and half and the lady who took him to get groomed took a liking to him and wound up adopting him. I can't begin to tell you how happy that made me.

I will let you know how the blessing goes. Thank all of you from the bottom of my heart for being there for me. All of you are always in my thoughts and prayers.

Dugan's Mom

[Krissyo]

Hi everyone!

I wanted to let yesterday sink in before I wrote about it.

I will start with Saturday night 9/23/06. I had a dream that was walking by the bedroom and saw Dugan and Dobbsie curled up together on the bed sleeping. In my dream I thought "Oh this is another shadow sighting." I stopped and went back and there they were there for real, I could see them. Then I woke up and of course it was only a dream but I took comfort in the fact that I could "see" them in my dreams.

I found myself becoming very anxious before the Blessing was to take place. We decided to do it in the Serenity Garden, a place I feel close to all of my babies. It is a space about 5 feet by 5 feet covered with bark under a big tree that the boys used to climb. It has various containers filled with over flowing flowers, a rock inscribed with the word" BELIEVE" and a stepping stone made by my husband & my daughter. We put a small table in the garden and covered it with a green cloth. We placed three candles, three pictures and the three containers of ashes. We were unsure as what to do with Jake? (Springer Spaniel, just turned six) Jake is a wild and crazy dog. He is not good with children and is very protective of his family and yard. I really did not want start out the Blessing with Jake biting Pastor Mark. I let my imagination go wild and could see Jake jumping on the Pastor or worse yet, running off with someone's ashes in this mouth.

We decided to allow Jake to participate if he would behave and if he wouldn't we would bring him in the house. We put him on a leash and waited for Pastor Mark in the backyard.

Pastor Mark arrived on schedule, came in the backyard and we made introductions. Well, he turned out to be a real animal lover and immediately went to Jake. Jake was a little unsure of him and I really got concerned when he got down on one knee and gave Jake a kiss. Jake was so sweet it was unbelievable. Jake is ALWAYS sweet to us but as I said very protective even after three sessions at obedience school. Paster Mark then proceeded to tell us that he was shot during a robbery at Kwik Way a year ago and that his dog, a Lab, really helped with his recovery and he did not know what he would have done without his dog being there for him. He proceeded to tell us that God created animals first so that Adam and Eve could name them in order to create an initimate relationship with them. He said prayers for all of our furbabies, including everyone on the LS website. Then he said prayers for our remaining furbabies that they bring us comfort, healing and that they be under an umbrella of protection. We lit candles and when he spoke of their spirit passing into heaven, two of the candles blew out, followed shortly by the last candle. He then read some scriptures that told of God's love for all creatures. During all of this Jake was laying at the Pastors feet listening to every word!

He closed by telling us that God has a plan for all of us that is so grand we could never imagine and that we will see our babies again and it will be better than we could ever believe. He also said that as humans we try and find the logic in things(how did he know this about me?) and some things are just beyond what we can comprehend.

We cried, we hugged and it filled me with such peace. When we sent inside, I found Dugan's favorite toy (a red hot pepper, filled with catnip) on the floor of the living room. My daughter said it was on the shelf when we took the ashes outside perhaps it was Dugan letting me know he was pleased with the Blessing

Thank all of you for being there for me. I wish each of you healing.

Dugan's Mom
Krissyo