...silly question, I know.

I am broken. It feels to me as though my heart, like a delicate, intricate vase, has shattered. The pieces seem so minutely small that they could never be put back together. Food doesn't even taste good anymore. Sleep is near impossible so doesn't feel good at all, and smiles.. well, smiles for some reason just end up making me cry more.

Does it ever go away? I'm sorry I'm not more positive. Right now I don't even know if I'm typing the right letters because these endless tears keep blurring and blurring my vision...I'm too tired to even wipe them away anymore.

I'm begging for encouragement. Sorry to sound so needy..just so, so sad... I know I didn't have Meeshack long like many of you on here have had your pets...it still hurts terribly. I want little Meeshack back in my arms so bad to feed and nurture. He had the sweetest disposition. I know I can't have him back.

Please forgive me for posting such sadness, but I am on the edge. I'm begging for some words. Please.

-eye_miss_meeshack (Donna)

Oh, Donna--

I don't have the words to erase your exquisitely painful sorrow. There is no magic wand that any of us can wave to make all the pain go away--we wish that there was. Only time can heal, and it sounds like such an awful cliche, but it is true.

I have put ten dogs to rest in my life, and probably as many cats, and I have recovered from all of the pain except for the pain that I feel right now over Ladywolf, who is dying slowly of cancer. When I look back on dogs and kitties past, I feel only pleasure, not pain. But it's been a long time now for a lot of them. (I've had four generations of dogs, two or three at a time...) At the time that each one passed, I thought that I couldn't go on. But I did, and gradually the happy memories began to replace the sad ones. It took a long time, in each case...

Can you post a picture of Meeshack? We'd love to see her!

It sounds as if she died very young, and that causes even more grief and sorrow. I am so sorry that you are having to endure this now. The grieving process is long and complicated, and generally DOES involve a lot of tears.

Our hearts go out to you in your time of pain--

Ladywolf, Margi, and Sweet Pea

You don't have to feel guilty for feeling pain and immense need for your loved one. I lost my dog Kota 8 days ago, ravaged by old age. I've told people I'm not ready to visit because I can't drive and see thru my tears at the same time. It's an unbearable loss, I know. Like you, I sob and beg for my Kota to come back alive and to me. A friend just sent me an article about having to say goodbye to our pets. There is a quote from a lady named, Anatole France and it states, "Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened." Some of our tears, I am told, are also tears of love and the fact that you could love so immeasureably. Most of my emails and postings are just momentary diversions from the pain. Friends say that it gets better in time...hard to believe. When I'm with people I feel like my insides are being eaten up, and then when I get home alone, the tears come from every cell of my body. Please keep writing here and expressing your sadness and grief. Instead of one day at a time, I say, one tear at a time. It hurts to hurt. I haven't gotten yet to the "it's now bearable" part because, like you, it's still too near and fresh. I imagine that at some point in time it will get bearable...when I can't say. But I will say that you have my support and sympathy. Eating is hard to do. Just eat a piece of bread if that's all you can do. And I know that going to bed at nite kind of sucks cause then you have to wake up to the reality and pain one more day. My thoughts are with you.

Tahoeden

Simply.... yes. It does. Can't tell you when, everybody is different. But it does eventually become bearable.

You'll never forget, you'll never be the same, you'll never get over it, but you will get through it. Some measure of peace and healing will find you, in time. Be patient with yourself. :]

Yes it does get bearable but I'm like you right now and not at that stage yet. It takes a long time to put together a shattered heart but

Look out for your rainbow, it can come in all shapes and forms.

The Story of Little Orange Boy

The little orange boy stopped. Behind him, kitties were playing, chasing each other and wrestling in the warm sunshine. It looked like so much run, but in front of him, through the clear stillness of the pond's water, he could see his mommy. And she was crying. He pawed at the water, trying to get at her, and when that didn't work, he jumped into the shallow water, All that got him was wet and Mommy's image danced away in the ripples. "Mommy!" he cried. "Is something wrong?" The little orange boy turned around. A lady was standing at the edge of the pond, her eyes sad but filled with love. The little orange boy sighed and walked out of the water. "There's been a mistake," he said. "I'm not supposed to be here." He looked back at the water. It was starting to still again and his mommy's imge was coming back. "I'm just a baby. Mommy said it had to be a mistake. She said I wasn't supposd to come here yet."
The kind lady sighed and sat down on the grass. The little orange boy climbed into her lap. It wasn't Mommy's lap, but it was almost as good. When she started to pet him and skratch under his chin where he liked, he started to purr. He hadn't wanted to, but he couldn't help it. "I'm afraid there is no mistake. You are supposed to be here and your mommy knows it deep down in her heart," the lady said.

The little orange boy sighed and laid his head on the lady's leg. "But she's so sad. It hurts me to see her cry. And daddy too." "But they knew right from the beginning this would happen." "That I was sick?" That surprised the little orange boy. No one had ever said anything and he had listened when they thought he was sleeping. All he had heard them talk about was how cute he wa or how fast he was or how big he was getting. "No, not that you were sick," the lady said. "But you see, they chose tears." "No they didn't," the little orange boy argued. Who would choose to cry? The lady gently brushed the top of his head with a kiss. It made him feel safe and loved and warm - but he still worried about his mommy "Let me tell you a story," the lady said. The little orange boy looked up and saw other animals gathering around. Cats - Big Boy and Snowball and Shamus and Abby and little Cleo and Robin. Merlin and Toby and Iggy and Zachary. Sweetie and Kamatte and OBie. Dogs too - Sally and Baby and Morgan and Rocky and Belle. Even a lizard named Clyde and some rats named Saffron and Becky and a hamster named Odo. They all lay down near the kind lady and looked up at her, waiting. She smiled at them and began:

A long long time ago, the Loving Ones went to the Angel in Charge. They were lonesome and asked the angel to help them. The angel took them to a wall of windows and let them look out the first window at all sorts of things - dolls and stuffed animals and cars and toys and sporting events. "Here are things you can love," the angel said. "They will keep you from being lonesome." "Oh, thank you," the Loving Ones said. "These are just what we need."> "You have chosen Pleasure," the angel told them. But after a time the Loving Ones came back to the Angel in Charge. "Things are okay to love," they said. "But they don't care that we love them." The Angel in Charge led them over to the second window. It looked out at all sorts of wild animals. "Here are animals to love," he said. "They will know you love them." So the Loving Ones hurried out to care for the wild animals. "You have chosen Satisfaction," the angel said. Some of the Loving Ones worked at zoos and wild animal preserves, some just had bird feeders in their yards, but after a time they all came back to the Angel in Charge. "They know we love them," they told the angel. "But they don't love us back. We want to be loved in return."

So the angel took them to the third window and showed them lots of people walking around, hurrying places. "Here are people for you to love," the angel told them. So the Loving Ones hurried off to find other people to love. "You have chosen Commitment," the angel said. But after a time a lot of Loving Ones came back to the Angel in Charge. "People were okay to love," they said. "But sometimes they stopped loving us and left. They broke our hearts." The angel just shook his head. "I cannot help you," he said. "You will have to be satisfied with the choices I gave you."

As the Loving Ones were leaving, someone saw a window off to one side and hurried to look out. Through it, they could see puppies and kittens and dogs and cats and lizards and hamsters and ferrets. The other Loving Ones hurried over. "What about these?" they asked. But the angel just tried to shoo them away. "Those are Personal Empathy Trainers," he said. "But there's a problem with their system operations." "Would they know that we love them?" someone asked. "Yes," the angel said. "Will they stop lovng us?" someone else asked. "No," the angel admitted. "They will love you forever." "Then these are what we want," the Loving Ones said. But the angel was very upset. "You don't understand," he told them. "you will have to feed these animals." "That's all right," the Loving Ones said. "You will have to clean up after them and take care of them forever." "We don't care." The Loving Ones did not listen. They went down to where the PETS were and picked them up, seeing the love in their own hearts reflected in the animals' eyes. "They were not programmed right," the angel said. "We can't offer a warranty. We don't know how durable they are. Some of their systems malfunction very quickly, others last a long time." But the Loving Ones did not care. They were holding the warm little bodies and fining their hearts so filled with love that they thought they would burst. "We will take our chances," they said. "You do not understand." The angel tried one more time. "They are so dependent on you that even the most well-made of them is not designed to outlive you. You are destined to suffer their loss." The Loving Ones looked at the sweetness in their arms and nodded. "That is how it should be. It is a fair trade for the love they offer." The angel just watched them all go, shaking his head. "You have chosen Tears," he whispered. "So it is," the kind lady told the kitties. "

And so each mommy and daddy knows. When they take a baby into their heart, they know that one day it will leave them and they will cry." The little orange boy sat up. "So why do they take us in?" he asked. "Because even a moment of your love is worth years of pain later." "Oh." The little orange boy got off the lady's lap and went back to the edge of the pond. His mommy was still there, and still crying. "Will she ever stop crying?" he asked the kind lady. She nodded. "You see, the Angel felt sorry for the Loving Ones, knowing how much they would suffer. He couldn't take the tears away but he made them special." She dipped her hand into the pond and let the water trickle off her fingers. "He made them healing tears, formed from the special water here. Each tear holds bits of all the happy times of purring and petting and shared love. And the promise of love once again. As your mommy cries, she is healing." "It may take a long while, but the tears will help her feel better. In time she will be less sad and she will smile when she thinks of you. And then she will open her heart again to another little baby." "But then she will cry again one day," the little orange boy said. The lady just smiled at him as she got to her feet. "No, she will love again. That is all she will think about." She picked up Big Boy and Snowball and gave them hugs, then scratched Morgan's ear just how she liked. "Look," she said. "The butterflies have come. Shall we go over to play?" The other animals all ran ahead, but the little orange boy wasn't ready to leave his mommy. "Will I ever get to be with her again?" The kind lady nodded. "You'll be in the eyes of every kitty she looks at. You'll be in the purr of every cat she pets. And late at night, when she's fast asleep, your spirit will snuggle up close to her and you both will feel at peace. One day soon, you can even send her a rainbow to tell her you're safe and waiting here for when it's her turn to come." "I would like that," the little orange boy said and took one long look at his mommy. He saw her smile slightly through her tears and he knew she had remembered the time he almost fell into the bathtub. "I love you Mommy, he whispered. "It's okay if you cry." He glanced over at the others running and playing and laughing with the butterflies. "Uh, Mommy? I gotta go play now, okay? But I'll be around, I promise." Then he turned and raced after the others.

Wow. I am dumbstruck by that beautiful, beautiful story. Wow. That's all I can say right now! Thank you for sharing!

Margi and Ladywolf

To Missing her so B......
Thank you for such aWONDERFUL story. I wish you would make a seperate post just for that story for everyone to read. I think everyone here would love to read it. Thank you for posting it. I feel like Margi it is a WOW story.

Hugs
xoxo
Anna and My Angels

You're most welcome, it is beautiful and has brought me much comfort this past week.
I have been following your thread Margi and just want you to know that you and Ladywolf are in my prayers daily.
God bless you.

Anna you're welcome and I've done as you ask.

Hugs

Hi, Missing Her So Bad, thank you so much for sharing the beautiful story. I cried all through reading it. It would make a beautiful illustrated poster, or short story book. Thank you again for sharing it with us.

Peace and blessings,
moon_beam

Donna, Hi. My name is Donna also. I felt your immense pain when I read your post. I so wish I could tell you when it will get better. For me, I would say that it hasn't gotten better, it just gets different. The intensity of my grief is still there but it doesn't well up inside me as often. I've lost 2 kitties in 7 months and am now struggling with problems with my dog. I understand your devastation.
I know you miss your Meeshack terribly and it feels like he has been pulled from your body. When I had just lost my first cat, somone on this forum said to just breathe. That was the best advice I got. Just keep breathing and let nature do the rest. That's your only function right now. Let it out every time it wants out. Who cares what you look like while you're doing it? Just weep. Sleep after weeping is sometimes the best.
I'm so sorry you are where you are. But I promise it will ease up.
-Donna

Through my tears, all I can say is that was wonderful. Thanks

Donna, how are you doing now? It is not a silly question you ask. I understand your need to reach out. I'm feeling exactly as you do. It has been one week for me, looks like it has been a few weeks for you. Are you feeling better?
Tracey