For Those Who Travel this Life in the Company of Animals

Daisy
 2000? - Oct. 4, 2013

Last week we had to say good-bye to Daisy as we made that last trip to the veterinarian. Daisy found us and adopted us a little over 12 years ago, so she must have been 13 or 14 years old. Her most notable trait was that she thought every person she met was the greatest thing in the world, and she was exuberant in declaring that belief.

Her veterinarian was Dr. William Weber at Eastwood Animal Clinic. He was steadfast in his care for Daisy while she lived, and continued in his care at the end of her life. Before I left his office, he gave me a card. "Don't read this now, wait a couple of hours," he said, "but this is the best thing I've ever read about what we experience with our pets."

When I read the card, I agreed that it was the best thing I had ever read. The quote is by Suzanne Clothier from her book, Bones would Rain from the Sky: Deepening Our Relationships with Dogs:

"There is a cycle of love and death that shapes the lives of those who choose to travel in the company of animals. It is a cycle unlike any other.

To those who have never lived through its turnings and walked its rocky path, our willingness to give our hearts with full knowledge that they will be broken seems incomprehensible.

Only we know how small a price we pay for what we receive; our grief, no matter how powerful it may be, is an insufficient measure of the joy we have been given."