I am so sorry Sharlene. Henry and I have been outside to wave the brightest star on her way to the Rainbow Bridge where our furangels are waiting.
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I am so sorry Sharlene. Henry and I have been outside to wave the brightest star on her way to the Rainbow Bridge where our furangels are waiting.
Our Molly Muffin's star was bright, right over my head.
Could not miss it, no not our Miss Diva Molly.
Truly brightest star in the sky.
Til then Molly.
We are here for you, Sharlene. I am so very very sorry.
Run free, sweet Molly. You are loved and missed so very much.
I am so sorry Sharlene :( Molly truly was a star, testament to this is the fact there are people all over the globe shedding many tears for this precious Diva that has melted so many hearts. Everything seems so empty when they leave, and just when we think that there are no more tears left the grief hits and they start streaming down your cheek again. You and Daniel are amazing fur parents and Molly knew how loved she was from the first day you met to the last.
I saw it too Addy! Definitely Molly's star. So bright and beautiful.
I'm so sorry for your loss. I know the pain you're experiencing but take comfort in knowing you gave her the best life - she was always safest with you. Now she's no longer suffering and she'll always be connected to you.
I am sorry, Sharlene. I have gone through this twice......and yet I still got Bailey. Palmer went very peacefully. He was in my lap surrounded by my arms and voice. I absolutely knew we were doing the most selfless, loving act for Palmer. He became whole again, was free of pain. He was romping through the fields and making so many new friends.
There are some articles that members sent to me which I found especially comforting. As the days go by, I will post one, here and there. Maybe they will help comfort you as well. You did absolutely everything that could be done. Do not look back or second guess. What you did was out of love and there is no more pure form of love, in my opinion.
I am taking an overnight trip tomorrow, but I will try to wrestle our iPod out of Bob's fingers and keep in touch. I remember all too well the pain. I firmly believe the only way to survive these experiences is to walk through them. Let your feelings come as they will. There is no time table. There is no right or wrong way to grieve. People who have experienced the love and the loss of a pet will understand. Do NOT listen to those who have not been through this, yet may feel free to instruct you on how to handle your days now.
Feel free to come here and yell, cry or whatever. All of us are here to help you. We will listen and listen. Finally, thank you for keeping us updated as things went along. Many of us love Molly as if she were our own. I am so very glad you got to spend time cuddling together. I think the communication skills are acute at that stage. They really feel your love and trust. They feel safe with you there.
I hope you have a peaceful, restful night. If you do not, someone will be here to chat with you. Molly was so very lucky to have you for her Mom.
Hugs,
Sus
Beautifully said Sus. You said so eloquently what we are all feeling. Thank you so much.
We truly are a family here and our babies are dearly loved and cherished by all. We will miss our little muffin so very much.
Dear Sharlene,
My thoughts are with you both at this sad time. Molly will be missed by so many.
Linda x
Little dog Molly
You have left massive footprints on our hearts. Such a big hole for your Mum and Dad, we will miss you and remember you always you special wee girl xxxxxxxxx
Oh my. First quiet morning, and it is very hard for us all but I know a million times harder for you and Daniel.
Luna and I saw Molly's star, too. Couldn't miss it! So bright and beautiful, just like our girl.
Sending much love your way.
First mornings are just plain awful.
Thinking of you and will keep Molly's thread on top today, in honor of our special Diva
Dear Sharlene,
I know how shattered you are today, dear lady, and what the days ahead will bring. Just remember this was the best gift you ever gave our little diva - freedom from a failing body. One of our members a long time ago said we do this so we can take their pain, freeing them from it, making it our own. Today she is strong once again, her coat full and fluffy, her eyes bright and shining. She's not alone - she is surrounded by all who ever knew her and by new friends like Squirt and Lulu and Peg and so many others. And I know that one day, when your job here on Earth is done, Molly will be waiting, her tail wagging too fast to see and barking joyfully, to greet you as you walk across The Bridge.
For now, we will cry with you, hold your hand, offer words to sooth your Soul until you can breath a bit again. You are not alone either.
Our deepest sympathies to you and Daniel,
Leslie, Trinket, Sophie, Fox, and all our Angels
May you know that absence is full
Of tender presence and that
Nothing is ever lost or forgotten.
May the absences in your life be full of eternal echo.
May you sense around you the secret
Elsewhere which holds the presences
That have left your life.
May you be generous in your embrace of loss.
May the sore of your grief turn into a well
Of seamless presence.
May your compassion reach out to the ones
We never hear from and may you have
The courage to speak out for the excluded ones.
May you become the gracious
And passionate subject of your own life.
May you not disrespect your mystery
Through brittle words or false belonging.
May you be embraced by God in whom
Dawn and twilight are one and may
Your longing inhabit its deepest dreams
Within the shelter of the Great Belonging.
From John O’Donohue’s Eternal Echoes-Exploring our Hunger to Belong
Tons of comforting and loving hugs being sent to you and Daniel.
Dear Sharlene and Daniel , Mike and I are so very sorry for the loss of your precious Molly Muffin. You both are in are thoughts and prayers. Hugs & Hugs. Brianna & Mike
Thinking of you today, Sharlene...feeling your sorrow and pain.
You and Molly are foremost in my thoughts. As I went through my evening last night, and morning tasks today, I thought of you. How I wish we could take away your pain and make it ours. We can only offer to listen, to comfort, to sit with you as much as you need.
I was thinking this morning how people say, "I know how you feel" or something of the sort. Personally, I think it is more that "I remember how I felt in a similar circumstance". We know how we felt, and can only imagine your feelings now.
I know you know... we are here. We shall remain here for you, as long and as often as you need. And then maybe a little while longer...
Yesterday was horrible. Today is more so. The house is full of her presence and yet she is not here. The gardens ring with the sound of her nails scampering here, there and everywhere looking for the next good smell and yet she is not there. The street is filled with unread mail left on the trees she loved yet she is not there to read them and leave her reply. She is everywhere and yet nowhere.
It is only us humans still here. Seeing her in every place that we look and yet seeing nothing.
She left us and took our joy with her. The memories we share and should be laughing at hurt too much and bring only tears and gut wrenching sobs of sound to fill the silence left behind.
We cling to each other and soak the others shirt with our sorrow. Then walk away as it is too hard to see the pain we feel reflected back on the others face.
Exactly...it is so hard. Fall is right around the corner and Lena loved it...the fires in the fireplaces, the heater outside and all of us wrapped up in blankets sitting on the deck in the dark, the leaves to scuffle through.
The memories are all around us, but the silence creeps in. I want to hear her and see her in all her favorite spots...and I still cry when I try to talk about her. I can smile in my thoughts, but the words make it too real and I still can't do it.
The hardest part of loving them is when we have to let them go. My heart hurts for you and Daniel, Sharlene...
((((((((((((((((((((hugs))))))))))))))))))))
Hi Sharlene,
I am so sorry. I wish I could tell you more and make the pain go away... but remember that you gave Molly a wonderful life full with love and tenderness, and she did the same. You were meant to be together and she was meant to be with at the end. I am sure that she loved you until the last moment!
Hold on!
Valentina
Sharlene & Daniel -- I am hoping these simple words will help you today.
Quote:
A Simple Message From Your Pet
by Ken D. Conover
To have loved and then said farewell is better than to have never loved at all.
For all of the times that you stooped and touched my head, fed me my favorite treat and returned the love that I so unconditionally gave to you. For the care that you gave to me so unselfishly. For all these things I am grateful and thankful.
I ask that you grieve not for the loss but rejoice in the fact that we lived, loved and touched each other's lives.
My life was fuller because you were there, not as owner, but as my friend.
Today, I am as I was in my youth. The grass is always green, butterflies flit among the flowers and the sun shines gently down upon all of God's creatures. There is no sickness, no aching joints and no regrets and no aging.
We await the arrival of our lifelong companions and know that togetherness is forever. You live in our hearts as we do in yours.
Companions such as you are very rare and unique. Don't hold the love that you have within yourself. Give it to another like me and then I will live forever. For love never really dies and you are loved and missed as surely as we are.
((((((Hugs))))))
I totally agree with you Sharlene. Other than the fact that we now know that our sweet diva is puppy like once more and pain free, that doesn't change the fact that this all SUCKS!!! The quiet can be deafening. The pain is overwhelming. It's as if time stands still. We understand sweetie. We really do. xxxooo
Sharlene, I am so, so sorry to hear about sweet Molly. It brought tears to my eyes. I know how it feels. It hurts!
Sending love and HUGS to you and your family!
My thoughts are with you, my heart is breaking for you. So very sorry.
Dear Sharlene, I have been thinking of you and Daniel all day, and holding you both in my heart on this most difficult of days. Sending love and huge (((((hugs))))) xoxo
That's a very nice piece, Judy.
Sharlene, I had forgotten about the tear soaked shirt.
I know how this sucks ....and it's just not fair!!! I'm glad you're sharing your feelings. I'm thinking of you and Daniel. Be gentle with yourselves.
Love,
Sus
Another day with its own 'firsts' ahead. Take it slow, remember to breath, scream as needed. And be gentle with yourself.
((((((((((((((((((((((((((HUGS)))))))))))))))))))) )))))))
Leslie and the gang
Hi Sharlene,
To the top for one more day. Thinking of you.
As Shana so rightly pointed out yesterday, none of us can know exactly how you are feeling. For me, though, when Barkis died the silence and emptiness of the house was the very worst part and seemed inescapable. I had left my job a couple of years earlier, so I had been home with him 24/7 through all the hardest days of his illness. Suddenly there was nothing for me to do, and nowhere for me to turn for distraction. Oh how I suffered. That's why Peg was my saving grace when she came to us even earlier than expected. This time, losing her has also broken my heart. But having Luna still here with me has allowed things to be somewhat different. I still have a schedule, there is still a companion nearby, the house is not quiet. The hours of each day are more bearable even though the grief remains.
I don't know whether the kids and their cats are still slated to take up temporary residence with you. If so, I also don't know whether that will help or make things harder. The house won't be quiet, that's for sure. But you also won't have the peace and space to grieve for Molly as you otherwise might, and that may be rough. But the kids and the cats are a part of life, and I do believe one of the lessons our pups are here to teach us is to live our lives to the fullest. To embrace the moment. So if the kids are still coming, I surely hope they will end up being a positive distraction from the pain of your loss. I guess you will find out soon. :o
Continuing to send you and Daniel my warmest thoughts.
The cats and the kids are still moving in, probably mid October till their house can be moved into, they are hoping before Christmas.
I agree, it is the silence and emptiness that is the heart breaker.
This morning has been tough. I had to tell my house cleaner when she came today. She and Molly adored each other and have seen each other every week for the last 5 years. It was not an easy thing to do and she too is heart broken, so we are both going through the house in tears. I'm going to need way more boxes of Kleenex.
Yesterday I mad the final arrangements for molly with the vet and she should be home next week.
I don't know if it will be better or worse with the kids here. Right now I am still in the don't want to see anyone stage. I can type about molly but I can't speak the words without breaking into tears. Daniel and I both are just trying to find our way. He told me we will be okay and we'll make it through this. It's just going to be a long road and take time. Somehow we will learn what our new reality and daily lives will be like without her. It just seems so unimaginable right now.
It's not that I want her back (although I do) it is that I want her back the way she was before she got so sick, because i know at the end, she was ready to move on and she was tired, her body giving out. That was no life.
But oh, the molly before she got sick was such a joy to know and share your life with. She was always so happy. I never in my life have seen such a happy dog all the time and playful and demanding. If she didn't like something she let you know what it was and how she wanted it fixed.
I think her personality was so big that it makes her not being here even harder to come to terms with. I know that is the case for both Daniel and myself. The silence is just deafening.
I haven't gone into the office this week. Today is my first day back, working from home. I don't know how I will deal the first day I come home and she isn't at the door to greet me. That has been especially hard for Daniel already. I tend to start hyperventilating when I have those moments of not seeing her at the door and so I'm trying to learn how best to deal with that. I've only gone out in the car once and that was to the vet yesterday.
I've only ever done that when I got claustrophobic.
Her window seat that she loved so much and spent time every day in, we have made into a different area for her, with her picture and her toys on it. We'll add a few plants, but it will always be mollys window seat.
I am the kind of person who likes to have reasons and explanations. I like things to make sense. I think that's partly why I was so blind-sided by the intensity of my grief over Barkis. It far defied any experience of death or loss I had previously suffered. And "over a dog?" as some people might say.
I now know I can't understand it in any rational way, but I do believe the relationship between human and beloved dog is different from any other relationship. (Mind you, I grew up with cats and I adore cats. But dogs are different). There is some bond that is so deep and magical. I think it must spring from some instinctive memory passed down in our DNA from the earliest humans and the first dogs huddled together around the firepit. That is why it feels to us like a part of us dies right along with our dogs.
I know I cannot ease your pain in any way, Sharlene. But I truly hope that you will keep writing to us and telling us how you and Daniel are doing. Because when we say "we understand," it's because we have felt that same deep and abiding love, and then the loss. Many people in the world have never felt that, and so they try to minimize or gloss over what has happened. But we will never do that. Molly's loss is huge, and we know it will take a long time for you to find your new path forward.
It definitely leaves a huge whole in your heart when you lose them, even though we know the decision that we've made to release them was the right thing to do it does not make it any easier, their loss is still so very hard to deal with.
When Sampson passed, my cat Alex, was my saving grace. Growing up Alex was never a lap cat, he'd sooner swat ya than let you pet him. However when Sampson was gone it seemed that Alex knew I was so sad and he started to be more loving and would even climb up on my lap. Sampson always slept in the bed with me and when he was gone I just couldn't bring myself to sleep in that bed without him, so I would fall asleep in my recliner in front of the TV. Many of nights Alex would jump up on my lap and we would sleep on that recliner, which we still do.
Your whole life changes when you lose your beloved furbaby and it takes time to fall into a new routine.
Sending you and Daniel tons of consoling and loving hugs.
More hugs and love, Lori
That is how it is for me with Lena. I have had so many birds, cats and dogs in my 60 years, and I have loved each of them dearly.
But Lena was my heart and I still can't talk about her without crying. Like you, Sharlene, I can write (and cry), but to speak the words out loud brings on sobbing that is uncontrollable...so of course, no one will bring up her name and if I do, I can empty a room in a matter of seconds.
If I hadn't had the other dogs, and then Sibbie, to take care of, I would probably still be on the couch where we spent so many of our mornings and nights together. I get anxious now when I am out of the house and only feel better when I pick Sibbie up from my husband's office and get home to Gable, Cooper and Doree, where all my memories of Lee surround me.
But to love and be loved by one of our fur babies is such a wonderful gift. Losing them is awful, they just don't live long enough...
Thinking of you and sending comforting thoughts....
My heart just aches for all of you who have experienced the loss of a pet, only to be confronted by the silence of an empty house. When our first real dog Jupiter passed, our home was still full with Visuddha and our new puppy at the time, Jackson. I do know the silence of an empty house from when my kids left, but even then, I still had the dogs and cats to care for and keep me on a regular routine. I honestly can only imagine how difficult that is for you now.
Keeping you in my thoughts and prayers, with much love.
Shana
I think that is the biggest problem I am having. There is only Daniel and I now and no other pets in the house. Nothing moves or makes that noise or needs attention or to just be loved on. It is killing me that silence.
When I am here alone, as I am when I work from home, I start to feel nauseous and panicky. I just don't know what to do with myself and so I am doing all kinds of things to keep me busy.
Joan, I know that sobbing well, as probably does most of my neighbors as I go outside so often because the house is unbearable to be in. Then I end up sobbing out there. I'm sure they can hear me as I can't seem to quiet it down once it starts.
That's it of course, Molly was my heart dog. I loved Tasha but I don't remember it being this bad with her loss. Tipsy was my heart cat and I haven't been able to to have another cat after him. His loss, also kidney failure, I didn't get out of bed for days.
My friend told me much the same thing Marianne, he has had cats but the bond he had with his dog went beyond anything else. It must go back ages and ages to human - dog bonding, as it really is so profound. I know Daniel was not at all ready for what he feels and felt for molly. He is beyond devastated and I don't think he ever wants another one it has hurt him so badly. I don't know if I can do that, I need animals in my life somehow. He swore after Tasha no more, then I was so sad and lonely without one that he gave him. He in fact picked molly out of the rescue, put her in his arms and never put her down till he finally had to hand her over to me to drive. His bond was instantaneous and it never became anything other than all complete. It was like that for both of us. I imagine it is why we are both having such a hard time now.
I can sympathize with the recliner Lori. My problem is that molly always woke me up from the recliner and said, mum time to go to bed, take me upstairs. She would huff at me till I woke up and then walk to the stairs and wait for her "lift" up. In her younger days she would growl while sitting on the steps till we came to bed with her. She never wanted to go alone.
Oh for those days back, what I wouldn't give.
My dear sweet Sharlene
I am crying while writing this, in shock, in pain. Our sweet Molly Muffin may she be free. I will post later. You have been so strong for so many of us. Now it is time for us to be there for you ,a shoulder to lean on an ear to listen, love to comfort you. I always pictured Molly as a spunky, very independent little girl. I feel somehow she told me to post. I usually do not come here very often. I am devasted for your lose. I always enjoyed hearing about Molly's little victories.
I will post later.
In memory of Molly's star .
Love Sonja,Apollo
This is for you and Molly
in memory to MollyQuote:
There's something missing in my home,
I feel it day and night, I know it will take time and strength before things feel quite right.
But just for now, I need to mourn, My heart -- it needs to mend.
Though some may say, "It's just a pet," I know I've lost a friend.
You've brought such laughter to my home, and richness to my days.
A constant friend through joy or loss with gentle, loving ways.
Companion, friend, and confidante, A friend I won't forget.
You'll live forever in my heart, Sweet Molly
Dear Lord, please open your gates and call St. Francis to come escort my Molly across the Rainbow Bridge.
Assign her to a place of honor, for she has been a faithful servant and has always done her best to please me.
Bless the hands that send her to you, for they are doing so in love and compassion, freeing her from pain and suffering.
Grant me the strength not to dwell on my loss.
Help me remember the details of her life with the love she has shown me.
And grant me the courage to honor her by sharing those memories with others.
Let her remember me as well and let her know that I will always love her.
And when it’s my time to pass over into your paradise, please allow her to accompany those who will bring me home.
Thank you, Lord, for the gift of her companionship and for the time we’ve had together. And thank you, Lord,
for granting me the strength to give her to you now. Amen.
Love Sonja and Apollo
Oh, Sonja...that is so beautiful...and I'm at my desk crying again. Thank God my coworkers have learned to ignore the sniffling coming out of my office.