Forever

I still miss dear Henry so much. A person can be intuitive and have a gazillion interactions with spirit, but when it comes to someone you spent every waking hour with, cheering on, hugging, feeding, comforting, etc. it's just as hard. Each night I'd kiss him and say, "Goodnight, God bless you, sweet dreams to you, I love you," then I'd think ten more years. Intuitively, I'd been told one year--which came true. Looking at his pictures it's undeniable he was getting on: the silver hair had taken over, one eye was cloudy, and those poor little teeth of his had been in better shape--what was left of them! His quality of life had severely declined, yet still he was tenacious enough for our daily walk. So many times I'd carry his long, short-legged body back to the car like a little football and the same guy at the farmer's market would yell out, "His legs got tired, I see!" Oh, how it got under my skin. Yet, it's possible the sight of my devotion to Henry made others happy, and that's a beautiful thing. 

We ask, why must we age? We, meaning all of us living, breathing creatures here on earth, and the answer is that at some point we need a reason to move on and to let go. That's just the way it is. I imagine as they find more abilities to keep us healthier longer, they'll also introduce ways to look younger. But at some point, the nature of the soul is to age, die and reincarnate. A soul's journey goes on and on, lesson after lesson, life after life. Modern Christianity fails to teach this, damning us to one incarnation (luck of the draw!) and a reward if we're good. I find it incredibly comforting to think we go on--though I do hope this is my last journey. A psychic told me once I'd been a queen in two past lives and when she said this I thought, Mary Queen of Scots must be one of them. After some research I found Mary matched my stats (tall, red hair, long neck), and when it came to the last hour with a guillotine to end it all, it said she had her little faithful dog hidden inside her skirt. That sounds like me, hiding dear Henry. Indeed, in this life I thought we'd be together forever, so inseparable the two of us were. 

I'd spend a million years with Henry, gladly, yet even I succumb to the knowledge that he had a journey, and now he goes on in an ethereal way. Henry and I are in a soul group, which means our souls are tethered with love. We'll always be together in one way or the other, I know this. Yet I also know it was his time to go physically and that we'll be together again. 

Animals teach us love, and they give us joy and sadness. To everything, turn turn turn . . . there is a reason, turn turn turn . . . I believe losing them, and the terrible grief their passing brings, is a lesson in love. In grief there is another way to open our hearts, in particular for me so that his soul and spirit has a place to be when we are separated. A lot of us walk around with closed hearts, but our animal friends teach us to remain open. Heaven is in the heart, and until I can hold, hug, pet, be with him again, that's where he'll be.