Author Topic: Goodbye Paros  (Read 2592 times)

Gaining Strength

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Goodbye Paros
« on: April 29, 2010, 07:18:03 AM »
I must say goodbye to my faithful dog this morning.
It has been a sleepless night.
He is my precious dog child, my  son's four legged brother.
He is such a part of our family,  traveling everywhere with us for 13 long years.

My husband and I were adopted by him in Greece the week after we were married.
He came to the hospital when my son was born.
He goes with us everywhere in the car and is such a part of our life.
It is a dark, dark day for us today.

I will miss his precious cheer and mossy smell, his even breathing, funny yelping dreams, the way he pushes his head to demand a petting, his shrill complaint at being brushed, the way he turns with expectation at going for a walk.

It is a deep, deep loss.
I just loss my precious 20 year old cat in July.
It is just too much to lose this precious child so soon.
What a dark, dark morning.

CB123

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Re: Goodbye Paros
« Reply #1 on: April 29, 2010, 11:55:55 AM »
I'm so sorry, Strength.  I can feel the pain you are in with this loss.  It seems like so much at once, doesnt it?

It helps me when I lose a loved pet (and there have been so many), to be grateful for the years I had with them.  And I know that you are. 

Thinking of you,
CB
When they are older and telling their own children about their grandmother, they will be able to say that she stood in the storm, and when the wind did not blow her way -- and it surely has not -- she adjusted her sails.  Elizabeth Edwards 2010

bearwithme

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Re: Goodbye Paros
« Reply #2 on: April 29, 2010, 12:58:04 PM »
GS: Oh, how sorry I am.  I know your pain.  To lose your best friend and your child's love pet.  This is such the hardship to bear with owning pets and falling in love so deeply with them.  You were a good parent to Paros and he loved you family to last 13 glorious years.  Cherish them.

I'm so sorry for your loss today.  My heart aches for you.

(((hugs)))

Dear Paros,

May you forever run the greens of Heaven
and roll in fields of sunlight.
Your faithful soul
will walk with us every place.
Forever.


Bear


Lucky

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Re: Goodbye Paros
« Reply #3 on: April 29, 2010, 01:09:35 PM »
I am very sorry for your loss. Animals are so wonderful and loosing an animal is something terrible.
(((hugs)))

seastorm

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Re: Goodbye Paros
« Reply #4 on: April 29, 2010, 01:35:03 PM »
So sorry you lost your old friend.

Sea storm

Gaining Strength

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Re: Goodbye Paros
« Reply #5 on: April 29, 2010, 01:58:00 PM »
Quote
It helps me when I lose a loved pet (and there have been so many), to be grateful for the years I had with them
yes, yes CB.  I have introduced that thought to my precious son who has never been without our dog.  There is never a day that the three of us have not been in the car together, precious Paros underneath my precious son's feet, and for hours on our many road trips.  It will be an intolerable emptiness for some time but always with a remembrance to shift from loss to gratitude for our love together.

Quote
May you forever run the greens of Heaven
and roll in fields of sunlight.
Your faithful soul
will walk with us every place.
Forever.
Oh bear - you bring me to tears.
Thank you so much.
I wrote down the first half of W.H. Auden's poem Death and read it to dear Paros before he died.
Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead,
Put crępe bows round the white necks of the public
    doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.


He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong.


The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

Thank you Lucky and Seastorm.
I so appreciate your kind words.


Worn

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Re: Goodbye Paros
« Reply #6 on: April 29, 2010, 03:17:24 PM »
Reminds me of my companions from the past.  I have cats now, but I so miss having a dog.  I borrow my sister's often tho.  :)

My dogs were with me through all of my childhood.  I'm not sure I would have made it without their enduring loyalty and love. 
I have so many fond memories of them.  I'm glad you do too GS.  Worn
You live and learn. At any rate you live.  Douglas Adams

Hopalong

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Re: Goodbye Paros
« Reply #7 on: April 29, 2010, 05:33:24 PM »
GS, I am so sorry.
This (by a mentor) is for you, Paros, and sweet M.
I hope you and M. find much healing comfort together.
Clean grief carries so much love.

Hops

The Heaven of Animals

Here they are. The soft eyes open.   
If they have lived in a wood
It is a wood.
If they have lived on plains
It is grass rolling
Under their feet forever.

Having no souls, they have come,   
Anyway, beyond their knowing.   
Their instincts wholly bloom   
And they rise.
The soft eyes open.

To match them, the landscape flowers,   
Outdoing, desperately
Outdoing what is required:
The richest wood,
The deepest field.

For some of these,
It could not be the place
It is, without blood.
These hunt, as they have done,
But with claws and teeth grown perfect,

More deadly than they can believe.   
They stalk more silently,
And crouch on the limbs of trees,   
And their descent
Upon the bright backs of their prey

May take years
In a sovereign floating of joy.   
And those that are hunted   
Know this as their life,
Their reward: to walk

Under such trees in full knowledge   
Of what is in glory above them,   
And to feel no fear,
But acceptance, compliance.   
Fulfilling themselves without pain

At the cycle’s center,
They tremble, they walk   
Under the tree,
They fall, they are torn,   
They rise, they walk again.

James Dickey, “The Heaven of Animals” from The Whole Motion: Collected Poems 1945-1992.
"That'll do, pig, that'll do."

gratitude28

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Re: Goodbye Paros
« Reply #8 on: April 29, 2010, 06:42:13 PM »
Oh, GS, I am so, so sad for you!. I can't imagine what it is like to lose your companion. We love our dogs so much and they are so much a part of the composition of our family.
Take care and know that Paros will be watching you and chasing heavenly butterflies! I also heard they have unlimited steak over the rainbow!
Love, Beth
"There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable." Douglas Adams

Logy

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Re: Goodbye Paros
« Reply #9 on: April 29, 2010, 07:27:50 PM »
I'm so sorry for your pain.  I am older, my daughter is older, and we have loved and loss many pets.  But the loss that still feels fresh to me is the loss of Logy.  Logy was my husband's and mine's first dog as well.  Logy was 5 yrs. old when my daughter was born.  Logy loved my daughter as much as I loved my daughter - protected her, watched over her, even doing the "Lassie" thing (daughter wandered from the yard when she was 3 years old when I went inside for a moment.  Logy led me down and across the street to my daughter, who had gone in a neighbor's house.)

Your relationship with Paros can never be replaced.  Paros will always be your special, first baby.  I think it's almost like that first love.  You never truly forget.  And keep a special place in your heart for. 

Logy has been gone for 18 years now.  We have had many other pets and loved and loss them all.  But when I think of Logy I still miss her.

I can feel the ache in your heart.

sKePTiKal

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Re: Goodbye Paros
« Reply #10 on: April 30, 2010, 08:52:37 AM »
((((((((((((((((((((((((((((GS & son))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

Grief and sadness and goodbyes can only be soothed somewhat by the fact that great love is the reason these hurt. The love doesn't stop or go away because of the loss... I guess, in a way, this is the meaning of what the poets say: that love triumphs over death. We can continue to love and celebrate that love, even when it hurts.

I send you my love to add with yours, to make the white light shine that much brighter.
Success is never final, failure is never fatal.

Ami

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Re: Goodbye Paros
« Reply #11 on: April 30, 2010, 10:58:39 AM »
So very,very sorry  GS.
Thank you again--so much---for how you helped me in my grief!                 Ami
No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.        Eleanor Roosevelt

Most of our problems come from losing contact with our instincts,with the age old wisdom stored within us.
   Carl Jung

Dr. Richard Grossman

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Re: Goodbye Paros
« Reply #12 on: May 01, 2010, 10:25:08 AM »
GS,

I'm so sorry.  Six years ago, I wrote on the Board about losing my beloved Watson.  I still miss him every day--and I talk to my 5 year old Golden Retriever, Beau, about him often.  Luckily, (I believe) Beau has no idea what I'm talking about.

Please take care,

Richard

Nonameanymore

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Re: Goodbye Paros
« Reply #13 on: May 01, 2010, 04:48:27 PM »
Hi GS,

Sorry to write this with delay.
I have lost 5 dogs in my life (so far and am chicken to adopt one as I can't go through the pain again) who were different family members: brother (Hector, the 'nasty' poodle), daughter (Candy, the playful Yorkie), best friend (Contessa, a white sheperd), stepdaughter(Cira, a bulldog) and son(Houdini, the most beautiful golden retriever I have ever seen) respectively.

Very sorry for your loss. I know there is nothing I can say that will take your pain away. But think of all the joy, love, companship, happiness and memories he left you with.

Love
Pxxx

JustKathy

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Re: Goodbye Paros
« Reply #14 on: May 01, 2010, 05:37:14 PM »
Gaining Strength, I am SO very sorry for your loss. My pets are like children to me, so I understand the intense pain of losing one. I wish there was something I could say right now to make you feel better, but I know there aren't any words that will ease the pain. The grief of losing a pet can be as intense as losing a child.

There is a really excellent book that I can't recommend enough: The Loss of A Pet by Wallace Sife. It was recommended to me by someone in a pet loss group that I attended years back. I've read the book many times, and it has really helped me.
http://www.amazon.com/Loss-Pet-Wallace-Sife/dp/0764579304/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1272749392&sr=1-1

Please know that you and your furbaby are in my thoughts. He will never truly be gone as long as he is in your heart.