I ran across this on the internet today and wanted to share it with ya'll.
Here's the link to "A Place For Us":
http://www.angelbluemist.com/aplaceforus.html

Excerpt: "I left in your tender care a piece of my soul . . . I love you too much to have left you with nothing but memories . . . I love you too much to have vanished without a trace . . ."

Thank you for the link! I have got tears in my eyes and am happy I am the first person at work every day.

dee dee

Well... this echoes so many of the things we have all said to one another. So many of the thoughts, hopes and dreams we cling to as our grief and pain overwhelms us.

Thank you for posting this. I am at work trying not to cry. I think I'm going to leave early and go sit in the sun for a few minutes. Let the wind blow across my face. And remember my furry babies doing the same...

I hope the next phase of their existence is proving to be as amazing as my heart tells me it is.

I thought it was beautiful too. It all makes so much sense. In addition to the sentences I originally posted, I love the part: "I understand your tears, each one you shed is testament to your love for me and I am honored and humbled. But don't forget the good things we shared -- remember and smile . . ." and also "I want you to do me a favor and go back in time with me . . ." Remember, remember . . . And I have been remembering, and that makes me so happy!

I printed a copy and took it to work with me. I read it several times during the day. I've been thinking about it a lot. As I was sitting outside, it was hot, but somehow there was a little cool breeze and I just felt enveloped by the atmosphere -- like a hug. I can't explain it. And I felt Hannah. I don't yet really feel her "presence," but I did feel her strongly in my heart today -- like she was with me. And I too remembered how she loved the wind blowing through her hair and on her face and how she loved to lie in a little spot of sunshine.

It does echo so many thoughts and dreams and hopes here. I am going to try to keep my focus on this aspect. I'm glad you read it. I hope everyone will take the time. I was happy I found it. I am still searching for answers and for peace and acceptance. It takes so much work though, doesn't it? My mind just keeps coming back to the thought of, Ohh, but I miss her so!

beautiful essay! I liked it alot! thanks BHM, for posting it!

Thanks, Marcia, for posting this. You always share things similar to this that help us all so much!!

Many tears came as I read the letter. I totally agree that we have WAY more than memories. Our babies are still with us, just without the "shell" of their familiar bodies.

I'm glad you got your Hannah hug!!

Any way someone can copy and paste this letter onto the forum? My internet acces is very limited!

Thank you kindly.

Sorry. I didn't do that because that site was very specific about copyright law/infringement. I guess I could copy it and email it to you, or it may have an "email this site to a friend" or something like that. I don't remember. Send me your email address, and I'll do that.

Marcia

Since it's in the public domain and this is a non-profiting site we are only legally obligated to state the writer's name. Enjoy.

A Place for Us - written and copyrighted by Terri Onorato

I know what you're thinking. You think I'm dead. Because you cannot see me with your human eyes, cannot feel me with your hands or hold me in your arms, you think I am gone forever. You recall how I looked when I left this earth and you cannot remotely imagine that I am alive in another place. You are racked and torn by the pain of our separation and it blinds you to that which is right in front of you...me.

How many times since I left your immediate sight have you been told that I'm dead and you should "get over it"? How many times have you cried yourself to sleep because you feel like an outcast, believing you're supposed to get over me because that's what people say is normal but somehow you can't and no one seems to understand? How many times have you put yourself through such excruciating pain because you aren't willing to consider that I am not, by any means, dead?

I want you to do me a favor and go back in time with me. Remember the glorious day you brought me home - was I not the most intriguing creature you'd ever met? Did I not make you laugh and giggle? Did I not look at you with such adoration that you wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of your life with me? I wanted this too.

Remember the days when I was in my prime and we did many things together. You were so proud of me! I was a good friend and I took care of you when you cried, were angry or felt down and unhappy. When you didn't have a lot of time for me because of your obligations, I waited patiently for you. I was always there when you needed me. Did I not look at you with such acceptance and patience that perhaps at times you felt a bit unworthy? You were never unworthy in my eyes.

Remember when age crept up on me, my bones became stiff and my movements slower. Still I met you when you came home and followed you around. We'd been together for so long, I was your very best friend regardless of what you were doing, saying and thinking. Did I not look at you with such kindness and understanding that you felt overwhelmed? I couldn't get enough of you.

Remember the last time we saw each other with earthly eyes. You tried to be brave but I knew you were crying...I know you so well, better than anyone else in the world. Did I not look at you with such pure trust and love that you yearned only to hold me close and keep me with you always? Did you not promise that you would love me forever? I believed you.

If this is so then why have you let me go by thinking I no longer exist?

Remember the depth of love in my eyes when I looked at you. Who created this love? Would the Creator diminish the song of our laughter that grew and flourished in this love? I am no longer an earthly figure, this is true. My body was only part of who I really am and it would have been but a mere shell on earth if it were not filled to overflowing with my soul, my spirit and my loving light. When we met you thought I was cute, pretty and adorable. What kind of relationship would we have had if this were all that I'd been? How could you have loved me if I'd had no spiritual substance?

We are all made up of energy that resides far deep down inside of us, it is our core and our soul, spirit and loving light. It is the energy that is all of life...it has no beginning, it has no end. It simply is and always will be and without it there is no life. You can't see it with the naked eye nor can you hold it in your hand, it is simply a certain knowing that this energy does exist. It's a knowing just as you know that our love existed on earth - you couldn't see our love in a solid sense, you couldn't gather it all up and confine it to one place. But you *knew* it existed. There was no doubt in your mind.

There are those who demand you get over me, insisting that I'm dead and you'll never see me again because animals don't go to Heaven. Oh really? I'm here to tell you different. You were as worthy of my love and undying devotion on earth as I was of yours. Do you really believe this love would be snatched from us *forever* by a loving Creator simply because I wasn't human? Was I not a living, breathing creation with personality? How could I have been so if I didn't possess the energy of soul, spirit and loving light? And if this energy is and always will be, then how can it be that I am dead? If my core is not the energy that is all of life then I was never alive to begin with. But you know better.

You cry because you miss me, this I understand. I miss you too - I miss the belly rubs, hugs and kisses that we shared. But life does go on beyond these wonderful, fulfilling physical connections. I came to this place to continue on in a new life, not because I didn't love you anymore or because I wanted something better. I came here because it was time for me to go to the next phase of my existence, something all living creatures must do eventually. It is the normal progression of life. I was not taken away from you because you cannot take away that which was never owned. My presence in your life was and is a gift to be cherished and honored just as I cherish and honor you.

Life is not simply about being born into a body, living a certain number of years and then dying. Energy cannot die. We are blessed with time in a body so that we can learn, share and grow. It prepares us for the next phase of our eternal life. The body holds within it the true life force of our existence...our soul, spirit and loving light. Without these our bodies would be empty, blank, void of feeling and expression. Without our energy we would indeed be dead and could never have experienced our love for each other.

You say that all you have left are memories but this is not so. You see, when I took leave of my earthly body I left a little something behind for you. You can't touch it, hold it or examine it, for what I left behind is far too uninhibited for confinement. I left in your tender care a piece of my soul. I placed it right next to your own which is quite fitting as we were always side by side in our earthly life together. I love you too much to have left you with nothing but memories that tend to fade and grow cloudy as the years go by. I love you too much to have vanished without a trace. How selfish it would be of me to remove love and light from your life.

I understand your tears, each one you shed is testament to your love for me and I am honored and humbled. But don't forget the good things we shared - remember and smile. This is an honor for me as well. When you need me I will be here. Close your eyes, relax, take slow, deep breaths and picture me in your mind. Shut off the world and your notions of what you think death is and give me a chance. Look for the subtle signs I send you. Don't stop being proud of me, I am a friend to be proud of, I am still your friend and soul mate. Don't memorialize the death of my body but instead honor and celebrate my never-ending life for it is eternal and forever as is my love for you.

Until we meet again...