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Messages - Revjyoung

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Main / Re: please tell me it gets better
« on: May 16, 2008, 08:36:07 PM »
I'm new to this forum but I will tell you what I told my son in the days after my dog's death after surgery on February 20th:

Grief can be like a tsunami.  The first wave is so devastating.  Then without warning another wave washes over you.  Again and again.  But as you experience each wave fully, the next is not as intense.  One day (and no one can time grief), that which was once experienced as a tsunami, feels more like waves gently lapping on the shore.

The waves on my heart are not as intense three months later but they're still not gently lapping on the shore.  But that day will come.  That day will come for you too.


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Main / My dog Twilight
« on: May 16, 2008, 07:54:10 PM »
“The Communion of Saints”
by Joseph M. Young
© 2008

“I believe in the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting.”
 
Of these words concluding the Apostles Creed, what sticks out is – “the communion of saints.”  On Sunday, as Christians gather around the Lord’s Table, those who have gone before are present, transcending time and space.  Some churches convey this belief symbolically when the cemetery is by the wall where word and sacrament are celebrated.  The blessed dead are just beyond the pale, on the other side of the wall, celebrating communion with us.
   We can also commune with them through the privilege of memory, where past and present creatively meet.  Miraculously, we are 2 places at the same time.  A few days ago, my recently late dog, Twilight, and I took a walk by the library where I go after taking my son, Jonathan, to school.  I opened the back gate.  She hopped out.  We walked along the strip of grass that she always used as her rest stop.  At her usual spot, she did her “business”.  And the beauty of it was I left those astral turds (kind of like astroturf) alone.  Then I went back to get my briefcase.  I opened the back gate, said, ‘paws up’, and helped her back in.  We had a nice little walk.  Just like old times.
Later, while driving to pick up Jonathan, I went a slightly different way.  As I rounded a corner, I went though a blossoming pear tree tunnel, the branches furled like a military guard.  I felt awed, surprised by joy.  It took my breath away.  I thought, “Something awesome is taking place.  New life is budding all around me.  I might be sad but it’s almost spring and I need to bask in it.  When I picked up my son, I told him to anticipate something wonderful.  I wanted him to experience it too.  Earlier, we had sat for a moment and I told him about my taking a walk with Twilight.  We shared a good cry and then started the side trip.  He would see a pretty tree and say, “Is that it.”  “No, but you’re getting warm.  You’ll know it when you see it.”  It may not have been as awesome for him because he was expecting it.  Then as we continued our journey, we saw some dogs being walked by their people.  I couldn’t help but say, “It almost seems a shame not to have a dog to share this beautiful day with.”  My wife wants a little puppy so badly that he cries whenever she mentions it.  But he didn’t this time.  I think he was open to the Zen moment, feeling what I had said to be perfectly natural.  I’m not ready for a new puppy either but it surprised me to think it was a waste of a perfectly good day to not have a dog to share it with.
   What prompted me to write was looking beside my chair and again, through the wonder of memory, I could see her sitting there wanted to be petted.  And I did.  Then she went over and hopped up on the ottoman until halfway through writing she must have gotten up because I could have sworn I heard her outside on the steps that go down to the yard.  She was ready to go out.  So she went without my having to open the door.  She comes and goes as she pleases.  I believe in the communion of saints.

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