Shadow's Ashes Are Home Options

[BOO]

She's home. As I walked up to our front door with the urn in my arms, I thought of how she used to scramble excitedly in her carrier as I approached the door. She always knew she was home. She'd wiff and sniff and poke her paws thru the carrier door as if to say "Hurry up Mom! Open the door! Lemme out!"

She's come home one last and final time.

When I went thru the arrangements with the assistant at the Emergency Animal Clinic, I knew I wanted her cremated privately, but I had no idea what I would do to lay her to rest. Putting her outside just doesn't seem right. She was an indoor kitty entirely. She *HATED* to be outside.

Has anyone just kept their urn and not scattered the ashes? As humans, our rituals always seem to revolve around returning our loved ones to the earth. I kinda feel like I am denying her that final step. But she hated to be outside...

I'll keep them for now, to touch and hold. I may change my mind in the future, but at least for now... she is home.

[Precious' mom]

I'm so glad Shadow's ashes are finally with you. It's a sense of relief and a sort of bittersweet homecoming...but your baby is physically with you, in another form but WITH YOU!! I too couldn't bear to bury Precious; he'd always been with me (indoors) and I didn't even consider that. Cremation was the only option. It took a week and a half for his ashes to be returned but they were, and the urn gets attention in the morning after I get up, in the evening when I return home from work and always right before I turn out the light and go to sleep. Just as it was when he was alive. I consider the ashes him but in a different form. I talk to the urn, hug it and even cry over it (not much anymore but there still are some times). He's been gone two months yesterday and yes I miss him very much...but he is still with me in more ways than one! Physical death does not break that bond, something I never even thought of when Precious was alive but it is true because I can still feel his presence all the time and it is SO comforting. In fact, I saw not one but two monarch butterflies today, so he is definitely communicating his love for his mummy!!
Lisa