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I'm sorry for your loss and can appreciate how difficult it is. My beloved Barnie moved onto the next life on November 8th...and like you, I had her cremated. Her ashes are now on my mantle with a cross and photo...and I talk to her daily, as I always had.
Do I believe in the rainbow bridge...that's like asking if one believes in Haven...it comes down to ones faith in their Lord, God, higher power...whatever or however you wish to refer to the supreme. I am quite comfortable in my faith and truly believe that not only have my loved ones who have passed, but my best friend, Barnie is in ever-lasting glory with the Lord. The rainbow bridge is the same as the pearly gates of haven...it's all relevant, it's all the same...
Be strong, your friend would want that of you...and when your time comes to move on...then you'll be reunited. Keep the memories of your friend in your heart and through those memories, find the guidance and strength you need...it'll be there for you.
i am sorry for your loss. I just lost a dog myself a couple weeks back. She wasn't 'ours' per se, but we were watching her for my wife's coworker. She was old, and passed. I appreciate my furkids i have even more, and know when it's their time, it will be hard, but can deal with it, and know all of our furkids will be waiting for us on the other side. I know Rainbow Bridge is real, it's as others have mentioned, similar to the gates of heaven for humans.
I'm not one to believe in ghosts, but that's the only explanation I have for this. My cat disappeared in January 1994 and after searching for her for a couple of months, I presumed she was dead. The night she disappeared was a night with wind chill of 20 below. She had begged to go out as she often did, and she would let me know when she wanted back in, by scratching on my bedroom screen to wake me up if necessary. This night she never came back. She used to sleep with me every night and if I slept on my side, she would curl up against my stomach, or behind my knees, or in front of my ankles. Often I would start to turn over in bed and I couldn't without moving the cat because she was on top of the blankets, weighing them down. Also, we had a waterbed then, a free-flow one, and I would feel the waves of the water when she jumped on the bed and I definitely knew when she got on the bed.
A couple of months after my cat disappeared, I felt her jump on the bed and walk around and lie down next to me. I was not dreaming; I wasn't asleep yet but had just gotten into bed. I reached up and turned on the light; she wasn't there. If it happened once I would say that I was over come with grief and was imaging things. But it has happened repeatedly over the years. Sometimes I have woken up during the night and tried to turn over and the blankets are weighed down. It has now been almost 15 years since she disappeared. It used to happen much more often but it still occasionally happens. I felt her walking on the bed the other night. We don't have a waterbed anymore, but I feel her walking around my feet and ankles sometimes, lying down against me, and then trying to turn over and it feels like something is holding the blanket down where I can't turn over easily. We have had another cat for most of these 15 years but this cat has a different personality, different patterns (doesn't sleep in the crook of my knee or ankle, prefers to sleep next to my pillow) and is not on the bed when this happens. I have flipped on the light so many times to see if it is really my current cat on the bed that I am feeling - and it's not.
I don't tell people about it much because I know it makes me sound like a loon. I'm really not a loon and I have had other pets that have died and they never "visited" me after they died.
The Bible does say that the lion will lay down with the lamb - so to me that says that there will be animals in heaven. They say animals have no soul but how is an animal dying different than a person dying, in the sense that there is something THERE and then it's gone? They have to go somewhere; they didn't just cease to exist. If anyone deserved to cease to exist it would be people, not animals. Too bad people can't be as loyal, faithful, truthful and loving as animals.
Maybe I'm just crazy, but I don't think I am. If I saw and heard and felt things all the time that weren't there I'd think I was crazy, but it's just this one cat and I don't see or hear her, but I do feel her.
The idea is real to us, in our hearts and minds I guess. How could we be expected to get by, to deal with the loss, without some thought of good to come out of it?
Here's an interesting tale from the American Indians that I learned a while back, forget where, but it does cause some thought.....
When we pass and head to our judgement, the first beings we come across are the animals that were given to our care when we were alive. Their judgement on how they were treated by us determines our final destination.
Think on it a bit. How we treated what some consider to be the least of all creatures, the disposable and forgotten in some cold hearts, those who place all faith in us for their food, water and affection, they'll have the first say in our fate.
Yes, our friends may have gone ahead but they wait for us.
The idea is real to us, in our hearts and minds I guess. How could we be expected to get by, to deal with the loss, without some thought of good to come out of it?
Here's an interesting tale from the American Indians that I learned a while back, forget where, but it does cause some thought.....
When we pass and head to our judgement, the first beings we come across are the animals that were given to our care when we were alive. Their judgement on how they were treated by us determines our final destination.
Think on it a bit. How we treated what some consider to be the least of all creatures, the disposable and forgotten in some cold hearts, those who place all faith in us for their food, water and affection, they'll have the first say in our fate.
Yes, our friends may have gone ahead but they wait for us.
I must say that is quite an interesting idea. I've always been interested in Native American folklore. If that is true, all the people who abuse animals will be sent to the bad place.
I plan on going to rainbow bridge to meet up with ALL of my dogs & cat that have passed. Rainbow bridge is my heaven. I have a lot of dogs there, over 20 dogs. Plus several still living.
I would be proud to be their caretaker again.
Dogs are so much better than humans.
I plan on going to rainbow bridge to meet up with ALL of my dogs & cat that have passed. Rainbow bridge is my heaven. I have a lot of dogs there, over 20 dogs. Plus several still living.
I would be proud to be their caretaker again. Dogs are so much better than humans.
Dog is God spelled backwards. At least that is how I view it. As an update, I do have two new puppies. Ruby made her first jump on the sofa on her six month birthday yesterday and she is quite the baby girl - all seven lbs. of her, so pretty good jump! Pearl is taking a bit longer, but that's fine by me, and she has got a more subdued personality. At times I wonder why I got them, but one night, about after five weeks of Teddy's passing, I really felt like I wanted to go to the Rainbow Bridge, if you know what I mean. Still devastated, I decided to get these two new pups.
I still miss my bear horribly. His shadow box is in my family room going on six months later, along with other pics. My job is ending soon, and I may just move him into my bedroom. I can't do so yet as I started this job mourning so and now that it's coming to an end, I finally feel like I can complete the circle and go back to right where I was before I started this job. He deserves to be in the part of the house where most of the action occurs, as if he is still here. To put him in the bedroom would demonstrate a finality, and one I am still not at a point to accept. Yes, somehow, and some point, he has to join Tiffany in my bedroom.
I love the new pups, but neither is my Teddy. I can see that with the years, I may grow to love them. Still part of me knows it would have been easier to not get two more puppies. Why two? Because I could not bear the thought of being left alone with no dog upon another's passing, plus they need each other to keep each other company - for their own sake.
Well, I appreciate keeping this thread alive and at the top. I hope it brings others comfort. There is also a Monday night candle light vigil which one can get more info on at Pet Loss Grief Support, Rainbow Bridge, Monday Candle Ceremony,. I've made tributes to both Teddy and Tiffany and somehow they live on in cyberspace all over the world and that does bring me comfort.
To anyone grieving still, the pain does diminish. I'm only six months into this journey, but the pain has lessened. It will for you too.
I have also adopted a new little one from the local shelter. She had been turned in by her owner, goodness knows why, as she is a lovely girl. But she isn't my Nugget and while I loved her instantly, my grief isn't diminished. She is a distraction, however, and can make me forget for awhile. She's getting to know the other two and we have a trio again. I have been to The Rainbow Bridge site, and it is awesome, but beware, you will start crying immediately because of the music. I can't go there yet to put Nugget's name down, it's too hard. But all my other pets have been listed there when I could finally face it. I have Nuggets box in my bedroom close to me, along with my Chichi who died at 15 a number of years ago. They were my two special girls.
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It has to be real...
