Lilly is doing her annual planning
Ok, so maybe it isn’t Lilly who is doing her business planning – maybe it’s Lilly who is helping me– and it’s me who is getting excited by all the possibilities lined up for this year—- with space open for synergies and happy surprises…
The medicine is going well and Lilly is peaceful, comfortable and for moments of the day playful… she has hosted young family members so that they can learn how this works.
The ‘this’ to which I am referring is the notion of love. And loss.
You can love someone, in this case, the family dog and you live knowing that one day you will loose them. Fortunately this certainty is only reserved for our pets and the chances are infinitesimally small for everyone else we love.
It is my strongly held opinion that it is worth this painful part.
That your life, and theirs, is richer to the point of magic because of the lovely way you live your days together, in the quiet moments, in the garden, in the observations on a walk, in the learning of-the-things, in the fun you find together.
It is all more-than-worth the missing that you anticipate.
It’s sad because there is something here to miss.
And so the children can learn first hand what Tennyson said in his poem for a lost friend “..’tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all…”
I told the children the facts as they were relayed to me by the vet. And then I said: It’s ok to be sad.
Because it is ok. Because it is sad.