And the Beat Goes On??

It’s been about 10 days since we lost our Roxie. We received her ashes on Friday, July 12, one week after the horrible accident that ended her life. It was so strange, I was writing about our loss, maybe as a children’s book on the loss of a pet.  I thought it might be helpful to our Grandson Gavin to have a book about the loss of his favorite puppy.  He loved them both but did have a favorite.  

We are still looking to settle on a new normal, and we know it can be awhile yet. My husband says he just misses her. I do too. So does her real sister, Lexie. We are giving lots of attention to her, just like the vet said to do. Dr. Dave in Blair, NE is a phenomenal human being, and we’re so glad to know him. He relates to us, and he is so gentle with all the animals. Just as hard for them as it is for us, you know?

The thing that makes this worse than our usual end of the dog’s life loss is the fact that someone else’s actions resulted in our dog’s death. That is the hard part. We just try more each day to have a good day, and talk about Roxie when we miss her. It’s kind of hard to navigate but we know we have to.  

My husband is 69 years old, I am 67.  At our ages anything could happen to either of us at any time, but we’re hoping not.  One day, one of us will lose the other.  We don’t dwell on it, but know it can happen.  We are very aware, and try to tell each other how much the other means to us.  I believe people should just do that for each other.  My youngest brother lost his wife to cancer 12 years ago.  It was the worst time of all of our lives.  He had known her since kindergarten.  They were married to each other for 9 years, and had spent a lifetime just as friends.  I’m so glad they had each other for as long as they did, but even 12 years out, she is still very missed.  As humans, one of the trials we must bear is loss.  We can learn a lot about it to help us, or we can bury our heads in the sand and ignore it when it happens.  That is so destructive.  You will never recover from your grief to live a good life.  Bottling it up just leads to many other problems.  There are places available that provide help.  

In the Omaha area, I am familiar with the Centering Corporation.  They are the oldest organization in North America for sharing knowledge about grieving.  They have a special group for children who have lost a parent or someone else very close to them, Teddy Bear Hollow.  The Centering Corporation has a vast amount of grief literature available, and they have served at the Oklahoma City Bombing, the 9/11 attack in New York City, and serve the Gold Star Families in Washington, DC, to assist people who have lost their soldier in war.  They are such compassionate, caring people, you will learn to look at loss in a different manner.  Please feel free to get in touch with them at https://centering.org/