I found these two poems, and one of them contains some good advice about grieving. The other, I think you will all like too. It will bring some smiles, but tears also probably.
Living Love
If you ever love an animal, there are three days in your life you will always remember...
The first is a day, blessed with happiness, when you bring home your young new friend. You may have spent weeks deciding on a breed. You may have asked numerous opinions of many vets, or done long research in finding a breeder.
Or, perhaps in a fleeting moment, you may have just chosen that silly looking mutt in a shelter - simply because something in its eyes reached your heart. But when you bring that chosen pet home, and watch it explore, and claim its special place in your hall or front room - and when you feel it brush against you for the first time - it instills a feeling of pure love you will carry with you through the many years to come.
The second day will occur eight or nine or ten years later. It will be a day like any other. Routine and unexceptional. But, for a surprising instant, you will look at your longtime friend and see age where you once saw youth. You will see slow deliberate steps where you once saw energy. And you will see sleep where you once saw activity. So you will begin to adjust your friend's diet - and you may add a pill or two to her food. And you may feel a growing fear deep within yourself, which bodes of a coming emptiness. And you will feel this uneasy feeling, on and off, until the third day finally arrives.
And on this day, if your friend and God have not decided for you, you will be faced with making a decision of your own - on behalf of your lifelong friend, and with the guidance of your own deepest Spirit. But whichever way your friend eventually leaves you, you will feel as alone as a single star in the dark night.
If you are wise, you will let the tears flow as freely and as often as they must. And if you are typical, you will find that not many in your circle of family or friends will be able to understand your grief, or comfort you.
But if you are true to the love of the pet you cherished through the many joy-filled years, you may find that a soul - a bit smaller in size than your own - seems to walk with you, at times, during the lonely days to come. And at moments when you least expect anything out of the ordinary to happen, you may feel something brush against your leg - very very lightly. And looking down at the place where your dear, perhaps dearest, friend used to lay - you will remember those three significant days.
The memory will most likely be painful, and leave an ache in your heart. As time passes the ache will come and go as it has a life of its own. You will both reject it and embrace it, and it may confuse you. If you reject it, it will depress you. If you embrace it, it will deepen you. Either way, it will still be an ache.
But there will be, I assure you, a fourth day when - along with the memory of your pet, and piercing through the heaviness in your heart - there will come a realization that belongs only to you. It will be as unique and strong as our relationship with each animal we have loved, and lost. This realization takes the form of a Living Love - like the heavenly scent of a rose that remains after the petals have wilted, this Love will remain and grow - and be there for us to remember.
It is a love we have earned. It is the legacy our pets leave us when they go. And it is a gift we may keep with us as long as we live. It is a Love which is ours alone. And until we ourselves leave, perhaps to join our Beloved Pets - it is a Love that we will always possess.
Letter to God
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Dear God,
Please remember these few things when taking care of my boy.
He likes to walk back and forth in the pond, chasing the blue gills, watching close for you to reel in the "big one". He will then "hold" the stringer for you. Please take him fishing.
The lizards in the tree stumps won't be safe anymore, so you'd better hide the lizards.
If you put dog bones in your robes, he will "wave" at you until you give him one. Give him two.
His day bed is the one closest to the fireplace. If there is a girl lying in it he will come and rest his head on your knee until you remove her. His bedtime is 8 p.m; please help him up the stairs.
Don't leave freshly baked pies on the counter, no matter how crippled he becomes, he will always eat it. Blueberry is his favorite, with just a little cinnamon.
If there is a child in the water he will bring it out, especially if it is having a good time. If there is a small child walking with a cracker, he will keep the child from overeating. Please give him a child to follow.
Don't leave any ladders leaning against your house, he will be found on the roof.
I hope there is a playground nearby with lots of kids, he will wait his turn at the slide, and bark when he gets to the bottom.
Be careful when you spell out words like "C-A-R R-I-DE". and " E-A-T," even "B-U-N-N-Y", He knows how to spell, you had better be ready to follow through.
When you take him on a trip, and stop to rest, just tell him to " be a good Boy", he will lift his leg whether he has to go or not.
He can't "go" with a leash on, it makes him cough. In fact don't even show him a leash, he will choke.
He also can't go for a walk without his Dummy in his mouth, He can't make it past the gate, he likes the orange one the best.
The top of his head will become pointed if you don't kiss it often during the day. Then his hats won't fit.
He can't sleep unless he is on the right side of the bed.
When you give him a marrow bone, make sure his mom is there too, he likes to use her back as a table and get her all slimy.
If you tell him to "stay", make sure you come back to release him, he will stay there for days.
During the football games, if you get a chip, he gets a chip.
He doesn't like the nuts with the shell on them, peel them please.
If you go to the lake then stop for ice cream on the way home, he always gets the first lick and then the bottom of the cone too, please.
Don't use a Buoy to tie off your boat, he will spend all afternoon trying to drag it to shore.
If you take him camping, he has to sleep between you and Mrs. God, on the softest part of the foam pad.
When the nationality tourists get off the bus at the Grand Canyon, have them take a group photo instead of one at a time, he gets too tired of smiling.
Don't get mad at him when you come home and his head is in the dog food bin, he has to stretch is stomach muscles every now and then.
That's all for now God. Tell him we love him, miss him and hope he likes the food up there.
Author Unknown