WE HAVE BEEN THROUGH SO MUCH SINCE YOU WERE BORN; TRAVELED PERHAPS TOO FAR FROM HOME.
YOU HAVE ALWAYS BEEN AT THE CORE OF MY INNER SOUL. THAT WHICH HAS MADE ME MOST HUMAN.
THIS CORE, I AM CONVINCED, HAS TO DO WITH OUR ABILITY TO REACH OUT; TO HELP A MEMBER OF ANOTHER SPECIES; TO DEVOTE OUR ENERGY TO THE WELFARE OF THAT SPECIES - EVEN WHEN WE DO NOT STAND TO BENEFIT FROM EACH OTHER.
IN SHORT, TO LOVE EACH OTHER ONLY FOR THE SAKE OF LOVING EACH OTHER, THE MOST PUREST FORM OF LOVE, AND FOR NO OTHER REASON.
YOU HAVE LOVED ME BEYOND EXPECTATION, BEYOND MEASURE, BEYOND WHAT I SOMETIMES EVEN FELT I DESERVED.
AND INDEED, YOU HAVE ALWAYS CONTINUED TO LOVE ME, SOMETIMES EVEN MORE THAN I COULD HAVE EVEN LOVED MYSELF.
YOU WILL ALWAYS BE ONE OF THE MOST MOST PRECIOUS GIFTS I HAVE EVER RECEIVED.
YOU WILL ALWAYS BE WITH ME IN SPIRIT. YOU ARE AS MUCH A PART OF ME AS I WAS A PART OF YOU.
I HOPE TO SEE YOU AGAIN, OR FEEL YOU, OR SMELL YOU, EVEN IF ONLY IN A DREAM OR A PHOTO.
IT WILL NEVER BE LIKE IT WAS, BUT IT NEVER HAD REMAINED CONSTANT FOR LIFE WAS ALWAYS CHANGING FOR US WASN’T IT.
WE WILL MISS YOU. BEAU MISSES YOU AND ONE DAY HE MAY UNDERSTAND.
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN.
I THANK YOU FOR ALL THAT YOU HAVE DONE; ALL THAT WILL CONTINUE TO DO BOTH DURING YOUR LIFE AND NOW DURING YOUR PHYSICAL ABSENCE.
LOVE YOU ALWAYS WIILLIE; BE SAFE AND BE STRONG. CHRIS ----------------------------------- ON DEATH:
I am standing upon the seashore. A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength. I stand and watch her until at length she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other. Then someone at my side says, "There, she is gone." "Gone where?"
Gone from my sight.
That is all.
She is just as large in mast and hull and spar as she was when she left my side, and she is just as able to bear her load of living freight to her destined port. Her diminished size is in me, not in her.
And just at the moment when someone at my side says, "There, she is gone!" there are other eyes watching her coming, and there are other voices ready to take up the glad shout,
"Here she comes!"
And that is dying.
- Henry van Dyke (1852 – 1933) American author, educator, and clergyman ___________________________________ For Julie:
It is only by going down into the abyss that we recover the treasures of life. Where you stumble, there lies your treasure. The very cave you are afraid to enter turns out to be the source of what you were looking for.
Comments
FOR WILLIE:
WE HAVE BEEN THROUGH SO MUCH SINCE YOU WERE BORN;
TRAVELED PERHAPS TOO FAR FROM HOME.
YOU HAVE ALWAYS BEEN AT THE CORE OF MY INNER SOUL.
THAT WHICH HAS MADE ME MOST HUMAN.
THIS CORE, I AM CONVINCED,
HAS TO DO WITH OUR ABILITY TO REACH OUT;
TO HELP A MEMBER OF ANOTHER SPECIES;
TO DEVOTE OUR ENERGY TO THE WELFARE OF THAT SPECIES -
EVEN WHEN WE DO NOT STAND TO BENEFIT FROM EACH OTHER.
IN SHORT,
TO LOVE EACH OTHER ONLY FOR THE SAKE OF LOVING EACH OTHER,
THE MOST PUREST FORM OF LOVE,
AND FOR NO OTHER REASON.
YOU HAVE LOVED ME BEYOND EXPECTATION, BEYOND MEASURE,
BEYOND WHAT I SOMETIMES EVEN FELT I DESERVED.
AND INDEED, YOU HAVE ALWAYS CONTINUED TO LOVE ME,
SOMETIMES EVEN MORE THAN I COULD HAVE EVEN LOVED MYSELF.
YOU WILL ALWAYS BE ONE OF THE MOST MOST PRECIOUS GIFTS I HAVE EVER RECEIVED.
YOU WILL ALWAYS BE WITH ME IN SPIRIT.
YOU ARE AS MUCH A PART OF ME AS I WAS A PART OF YOU.
I HOPE TO SEE YOU AGAIN, OR FEEL YOU, OR SMELL YOU, EVEN IF ONLY IN A DREAM OR A PHOTO.
IT WILL NEVER BE LIKE IT WAS,
BUT IT NEVER HAD REMAINED CONSTANT
FOR LIFE WAS ALWAYS CHANGING FOR US WASN’T IT.
WE WILL MISS YOU. BEAU MISSES YOU AND ONE DAY HE MAY UNDERSTAND.
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN.
I THANK YOU FOR ALL THAT YOU HAVE DONE;
ALL THAT WILL CONTINUE TO DO
BOTH DURING YOUR LIFE AND NOW DURING YOUR PHYSICAL ABSENCE.
LOVE YOU ALWAYS WIILLIE; BE SAFE AND BE STRONG.
CHRIS
-----------------------------------
ON DEATH:
I am standing upon the seashore.
A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean.
She is an object of beauty and strength.
I stand and watch her until at length she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other. Then someone at my side says,
"There, she is gone."
"Gone where?"
Gone from my sight.
That is all.
She is just as large in mast and hull and spar as she was when she left my side, and she is just as able to bear her load of living freight to her destined port.
Her diminished size is in me, not in her.
And just at the moment when someone at my side says,
"There, she is gone!"
there are other eyes watching her coming, and there are other voices ready to take up the glad shout,
"Here she comes!"
And that is dying.
- Henry van Dyke (1852 – 1933)
American author, educator, and clergyman
___________________________________
For Julie:
It is only by going down into the abyss
that we recover the treasures of life.
Where you stumble,
there lies your treasure.
The very cave you are afraid to enter
turns out to be the source of
what you were looking for.
- Joseph Campbell May 22, 2006
What beautifully written words.
"IN SHORT,
TO LOVE EACH OTHER ONLY FOR THE SAKE OF LOVING EACH OTHER,
THE MOST PUREST FORM OF LOVE,
AND FOR NO OTHER REASON".
This paragraph which you have written is what I believe so many of us feel about the love we get from and give to our animals.
I am sorry for yours and Beaus Loss.
Julie