Memories – Page 2

Farewell My Lovely

Filed Under: Journeys, Reflections, Resources, Stories · November 12, 2011 · 2 Comments ·

My badly neglected blog has been calling me to write for some time – but today it’s a sad post I’m finally writing.

This morning I am saying farewell to one of my beautiful Tonkinese cats.

Seven years ago Hershey and Creamy came to me as adults from a breeder, after they’d had their litters. Such different personalities, with different quirks and habits, both have been a wonderful joy in my life. Two furry mischiefs who have, with gentle paws and soft voices, taken their firm places in my heart.

But now poor Creamy has developed an inoperable cancer. Although several visits to the vet over the last few months gave no answers, now they can feel the large mass in her tummy. She has become restless and is obviously increasingly uncomfortable. She’s almost stopped eating and has lost so much weight so quickly, that she’s feather-light in my arms.

So today it’s time to say goodbye – before she starts to suffer in earnest. It’s time for a last breakfast, a last ‘yin-yang snooze’, curled up with Hershey. And lots of pats and cuddles before her final visit to the vet.

Such a hard decision – and I am typing this through my tears. But when our hearts are too full to find our own words, it can be comforting to find someone else has said it for us:

A Pet’s Prayer

If it should be that I grow frail and weak,
And pain should keep me from my sleep,
Then, you must do what must be done
For this, the last battle, can’t be won.
Don’t let your grief stay your hand,

For this day more than the rest,
Your love and friendship stand the test.
We’ve had so many years,
What is to come can hold no fear.
You’d not want me to suffer, so
When the time comes, please let me go.

Take me where my needs they’ll tend,
Only, stay with me to the end
And hold me firm and speak to me
Until my eyes no longer see.
I know in time you’ll see it is a kindness you do for me
Although my tail its last has waved,
From pain and suffering I’ve been saved.

Don’t grieve it should be you who this thing decides to do.
We’ve been so close, we two, these years,
Don’t let your heart hold tears.
Smile, for we walked together for a while.

(Author Unknown)

The More Things Change …

Filed Under: Journeys, Reflections, Resources, Stories · June 27, 2010 · 2 Comments ·

For various reasons this last week, I have found myself in a deeply reflective space.

I’ve walked again in an earlier me, revisiting events and experiences from 10-25 years ago.

I’ve unearthed diaries, letters and other mementos and spent time reading them. It is fascinating to have such a clear record of what I was thinking and feeling so long ago!

It’s good to reflect on how I believe I’ve grown, mellowed and matured over the years since then. But it’s also true that some things just don’t change.

As an example, I thought I’d share a snippet of something I wrote almost 25 years ago – complete with the doodled sketches that graced (dis-graced?) those pages. :)

[Read more…]

A Spoonful of Care

Filed Under: Reflections · May 6, 2010 · Leave a Comment ·

A recent Facebook post by my friend Graham Godwin asked “Dear mythbusters……… does a teaspoon of sugar really help the medicine go down?????”

His question brought back memories for me. Not about sugar, it’s true.

But I remember when I was very small and had to take a tablet, how my mother used to crush the offending, usually nasty-tasting thing and mix it with a teaspoonful of jam or honey for me.

I still remember the look of concentration on her face, as she crushed it between the bowl of one spoon and the back of another, without spilling even a small bit of the resulting white powder.

I also remember how she, as an ex-nurse, would use a spoon to depress my tongue and peer into my mouth when I complained of a sore throat.

Or how she’d use the back of a teaspoon to crack the top of a boiled egg for me. Soft-boiled eggs and dry toast were so often a first-meal remedy after I’d been ill.