I’ve observed a few things to help with the grief felt by those left behind. Doing the dishes is one of them.
Does keening help? Lucas seems to think so. But I fear it’s more the animal response to searing pain and not always even palliative. It’s the body’s way of marking the passing.
Tears help, though. That’s what Tanvi tells me. They cleanse and heal.
Grieving together helps.
When it doesn’t break a family apart, which it can as often as not, it brings a family together.
Pa! You OK, Pa? You play pounce? Emery asked Dustin.
I think not, pup. The pounce has left me.
We each bear our pain in our own ways, and sometimes, those ways find mirrors in the ones we love the most.
If I have sharp knife poke me, then so do Ma and Pa.
And if this poke now, maybe it not poke later.
Ma, you still know how to smile?
Of course, Moon Dog. And I still know how to snuggle, too.
Do you think we continue to learn once we’ve left this realm? We do. We learn from you every day. It why we look back, so we can see what lasts, after we’ve left.
It’s love that lasts, and love that draws us back, and love, too, that lets us go again, when we feel the need to roam.
When the sun set on the sad day, Lucas pulled out his violin. He remembered how Mochi always cowered when he played. He didn’t play that badly, did he? He always thought she was teasing him, and he’d play for her again. He knew, wherever she was, she’d hear.
Twister came racing. Was Lucas OK? It sounded like cats were being strangled!
Ah! It was just the terrible music, as bad as ever, too much for this music-lover to stand, even if he was the performer! How was he ever to get any better if he played worse than he could listen to, himself?
I let him practice, while I chipped in with the chores. Always so much to be done in a houseful of dogs!
But now that Otter and Mochi were with me, there was a bit more room in the house. And that hooded grump said he’d be back soon for Crackers and Caleb. What could we do with all this space that would soon open up?
I hopped on the computer and bookmarked a few pages. “Adoption Success Stories”–and no, this wasn’t the Cat and Dog Adoption Center. Let’s not call it a suggestion. Let’s just say that if a certain someone is thinking along certain lines, he should be able to find the information he needs quickly and easily. And if he isn’t thinking about certain lines, maybe this page will get him to do so.
While I put my scheme into place, Emery checked in with the rest of the family.
Granddam? Twister wondered, as he burst out from under the couch. You got pounce?
She did! Her pounce had returned, and she leapt straight up! All four feet off the floor!
We fly!
You are the flyingest, Moon Dog, said Chloe.
Yes, some things help. Doing the dishes and puppies are two of them. And maybe, just possibly, my wild-hair of a scheme might help, too, one of these days!
Cathy Tea's SimLit Anthology 