Do you ever feel that your animal friends have come back to visit you after they've crossed that Rainbow Bridge?


Most of you have already seen me talk about my childhood cat, Snooper, and how my parents had her euthanized while I was away at college and I never got to say good-bye.

Shortly after my college graduation, I moved from Michigan to Indianapolis to begin my first "real" job. I was in a new city where I knew no-one. Feeling lonely, I began to think about getting a cat. With that thought came another: it HAD to be a gray kitten! Nothing else would do.

Why a gray kitten? I'd never even thought about wanting one sort of a cat over another before. I was always more swayed by whether or not there seemed to be a deeper connection than by surface features. But the inner voice was insistent: GRAY!

I searched all the pounds, visited all the pet shops. No gray kittens, not even any gray adults. I gave up the search and went to visit my parents at my childhood home where they still lived at the time. It was the 4th of July weekend, 1981. After I got there, I happened to mention my gray cat quest.

"Oh, you should have been here two days ago," said Mom. "The cutest little gray kitten just walked right up to the door like she owned the place! But she probably won't be back."

"I think she will," my sister grinned. She'd put food out for the kitten without telling Mom.

Sure enough, the gray kitten came back. I carried her all over the neighborhood to see if she belonged to anyone, but nobody had seen her before. I didn't expect anyone to claim her, though. Something inside said I'd found the one I was looking for.

Smokey and I bonded quickly and deeply. I was hers, she made that perfectly clear. Over the 18 years we were together, I saw so many uncanny similarities in her mannerisms and personality that I became convinced she could be Snooper, come back for another go at life with me.

Smokey's death was the first I'd had to face head-on as an adult. I had to have her put down, and I was devastated for weeks afterward. As my grief began to subside, though, Smokey began appearing in my dreams. Each time she arrived, the dream would suddenly become vivid and lucid. Each time it happened I said to her, "Smokey! You died, but you've come back to see me!" And each dream had the very clear sense of being a visitation, that she'd come by specifically to check in on me and say hello.

I thought the same thing would happen when Kela died. She and I became extra-close after Smokey's passing, and Kela was with me for 21 of her 22 years on this planet. But it was different with her. It took over a year before I began dreaming about Kela, and when those dreams did come they didn't have that same strong sense of visitation about them.

I never did dream of Lilly, who was with me only 4 short months.

As for dear Kirby, well, it seems perhaps she hit the beach running and hasn't yet paused to look back.

-- Daryl

I haven't had a dream about my dog yet, but your story certainly gives me hope that this will happen for me someday. Thanks for sharing--it was an upbeat and heartwarming post to read.

__Jim

Hi Daryl,
Well I am generally a scientist type of person not given to many flights of fancy but I have determined for myself that cats are mysterious creatures par excellence.
My first ever cat arrived under the most astonishing cir%%stances and although I never "heard" from him after his departure from this planet (in dreams or whatever) he was the one who opened the world of cat ownership up to me.
It's funny I have had a few dreams lately about my Lhasa Apso Pumpkin. I haven't thought much about Pumpkin in my waking hours for a long time. She has been gone for years now. It is nice to be reconnected with her.
The visits I feel I have gotten from Ginger have been "signs" that come up usually right as I am thinking of something about him. It may be wishful thinking. On the other hand it may be him. When these things happen I am thoroughly convinced that it is. Just as an example I was in the yard yesterday. We have wind chimes that very seldom chime. I think they are hanging in too much of a protected area and I keep meaning to move them. I was thinking (sadly, I might add) about Ginger and what a bummer it was to be painting without him (he always sat with me when I painted pictures in the yard). JUST as I thought that sad thought the wind chime chimed for a long time!! What a happy sign he sent me. I really loved that.

Oh yes! Our babies are still watching over us. I had received three signs from Max one night. That was about a month ago. My husband went to the emergency room and was admitted last week at the hospital. One night when I was leaving and walking to my car, there was a car parked a couple of spots away and the license plate was "Maxi 4". We always called Max, "Maxie" and for the plate to have the number 4 on it after I had received 3 signs was just too much to be a coincidence. I know Max was with his daddy and making sure he was o.k. at the hospital!

Carol