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snaplesI called my mum this morning, because ... huh ... it'd been two days I hadn't heard from her. So we talked a bit, and she sounded very weird. Then, she says something, chokes, and is very silent for a full minute. Being her daughter, I know she's crying and trying not to show it. A thousand things run through my mind at that point, and I get very anxious. So I let her breathe and sort out her thoughts before she announced that yesterday, my folks had Cleo, our beloved Australian Shepherd, put down. She was 12, athritic, and slowing down. Plus, my folks are moving, and were afraid that a traumatic move would have been Cleo's downfall.
Now, the hard part about this is, Cleo wasn't sick or suffering. She was, in fact, still quite lively, if not suffering from hyperactivity (which the vet told us wasn't very good for her breathing at her age). It's hard to imagine that poor dog, not exactly at her prime but not exactly dying either, is now gone from this world.
I've been feeling very depressed today following these news. Cleopatra has been part of my life for 12 years. And though I'm not at home anymore (and thus the realisation that she is gone hasn't quite sunk in yet), I feel her loss very strongly.
So if you'll pardon the utter sentimentality which will follow, and which will no doubt bring Snape great shame, I had to write this out of my system:
Dear Cleo,
For 12 years, you were a silent companion that nevertheless brimmed with a vitality handlers assured us would fade after two years out of puppyhood. You were excited beyond belief over such trivial things as visits from relatives and strangers alike, food and television. While most dogs would cringe and whimper over the prospect of a needle, you salivated at the promise of a treat and managed to remain still for that tiny prick before devouring a cookie. You constantly surprised us with your unnatural ability to open closets and close them behind you when a storm hit. You accepted to co-exist with a feline that attacked you whenever our backs were turned and uttered no complaint and unleashed not one bite in retaliation. While said feline made its bed comfortably over beds and watched you contemptuously from the height of comfort, you remained in your bed by the door and did nothing in your defense. You locked us out of our house and forced us to climb to an open window and while, at the time we were very angry, the story lives on as an amusing anectode that never fails to draw a laugh. When my parents were away and I stood alone in a big house, you were there, willing and able to find that tiny comfort on my bed while giving me the security I needed. You waited patiently while the cat was fed before you, and while we had a reason to do so (the cat would often go nosing into your dish if we made the mistake to feed you first), you did not understand that reason but still trusted us to give you the food you wanted. You ate everything we ever served you with blind, loyal trust, forgetting to scent first what it was we gave you. While we had very little patience at the end, when you were slowly going deaf and ignoring our commands, you relentlessly rubbed against us for a pat, for a caress, for a kiss that I never forbade you.
I love you very much, Cleo, and hope that wherever you are, your dish is eternally full, you have wide open spaces to run to your heart's content, and that you have numerous companions to run with you.
Thanks.
Now, the hard part about this is, Cleo wasn't sick or suffering. She was, in fact, still quite lively, if not suffering from hyperactivity (which the vet told us wasn't very good for her breathing at her age). It's hard to imagine that poor dog, not exactly at her prime but not exactly dying either, is now gone from this world.
I've been feeling very depressed today following these news. Cleopatra has been part of my life for 12 years. And though I'm not at home anymore (and thus the realisation that she is gone hasn't quite sunk in yet), I feel her loss very strongly.
So if you'll pardon the utter sentimentality which will follow, and which will no doubt bring Snape great shame, I had to write this out of my system:
Dear Cleo,
For 12 years, you were a silent companion that nevertheless brimmed with a vitality handlers assured us would fade after two years out of puppyhood. You were excited beyond belief over such trivial things as visits from relatives and strangers alike, food and television. While most dogs would cringe and whimper over the prospect of a needle, you salivated at the promise of a treat and managed to remain still for that tiny prick before devouring a cookie. You constantly surprised us with your unnatural ability to open closets and close them behind you when a storm hit. You accepted to co-exist with a feline that attacked you whenever our backs were turned and uttered no complaint and unleashed not one bite in retaliation. While said feline made its bed comfortably over beds and watched you contemptuously from the height of comfort, you remained in your bed by the door and did nothing in your defense. You locked us out of our house and forced us to climb to an open window and while, at the time we were very angry, the story lives on as an amusing anectode that never fails to draw a laugh. When my parents were away and I stood alone in a big house, you were there, willing and able to find that tiny comfort on my bed while giving me the security I needed. You waited patiently while the cat was fed before you, and while we had a reason to do so (the cat would often go nosing into your dish if we made the mistake to feed you first), you did not understand that reason but still trusted us to give you the food you wanted. You ate everything we ever served you with blind, loyal trust, forgetting to scent first what it was we gave you. While we had very little patience at the end, when you were slowly going deaf and ignoring our commands, you relentlessly rubbed against us for a pat, for a caress, for a kiss that I never forbade you.
I love you very much, Cleo, and hope that wherever you are, your dish is eternally full, you have wide open spaces to run to your heart's content, and that you have numerous companions to run with you.
Thanks.
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no subject
Date: 2004-09-03 11:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-03 11:39 am (UTC)I know what it is to lose a pet. My cat Wicca died September 5th of last year and I still cry over her loss. You have my deepest sympathies.
::HUGS::
no subject
Date: 2004-09-03 01:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-03 02:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-03 03:08 pm (UTC)I hope that this is not too corny, but that poem was send to me years ago, when I had lost a beloved pet, which also went away long before it would have been her -natural- time; maybe it helps a little.
Take care!
Firiath
The Rainbow Bridge
inspired by a Norse legend
By the edge of a woods, at the foot of a hill,
Is a lush, green meadow where time stands still.
Where the friends of man and woman do run,
When their time on earth is over and done.
For here, between this world and the next,
Is a place where each beloved creature finds rest.
On this golden land, they wait and they play,
Till the Rainbow Bridge they cross over one day.
No more do they suffer, in pain or in sadness,
For here they are whole, their lives filled with gladness.
Their limbs are restored, their health renewed,
Their bodies have healed, with strength imbued.
They romp through the grass, without even a care,
Until one day they start, and sniff at the air.
All ears prick forward, eyes dart front and back,
Then all of a sudden, one breaks from the pack.
For just at that instant, their eyes have met;
Together again, both person and pet.
So they run to each other, these friends from long past,
The time of their parting is over at last.
The sadness they felt while they were apart,
Has turned into joy once more in each heart.
They embrace with a love that will last forever,
And then, side-by-side, they cross over… together.
© 1998 Steve and Diane Bodofsky. All Rights Reserved.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-03 04:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-03 04:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-03 05:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-03 08:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-03 09:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-03 09:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-04 02:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-04 04:08 am (UTC)Love & Serpents' Kisses,
Anath.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-04 07:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-11 08:07 am (UTC)I'm very sorry about your loss, and that letter was such a beautiful goodbye to Cleo! I know I can't be of much help, but anyway, a giant hug of comfort for you!!
Amanda
A Challenge for the Full Moon Festival
Date: 2004-09-28 05:04 am (UTC)On the fifteenth day of the eigth month of the Chinese Lunar Calendar, it is the Mid-Autumn Festival. On that night, the moon is the brightest out of the whole year. It is also known as the full moon festival. This year, that falls on the night of September 28th. The fifteenth of each month is when the full moon is very small, but a very bright white. The sixteenth is when the moon is very round, large and yellow. In honor of the festival, I would like to submit a challenge to you. doesn't have to be done of course, but I just felt like submitting this to all the Remus Lupin fanfic writers/communities that I know.
Preferably RL/SS
On a trip to China with Severus, Remus and Severus encounter people discussing the celebrating of the full moon festival. Remus, having been to China before (for any reason you like), explains to Severus the purpose of the festival.
The story of the festival is rather long, so you may make him forget the story or just brush it off. People celebrate the festival by eating moon cakes (little cakes that are stuffed with green bean paste or red bean paste or others, and are stamped with characters and designs) and having family renunions or family time at night under the bright moon.
Remus remembers last time he was here, he may or may not wanted to celebrate the festival. Perhaps he encounters some Chinese werewolves, and has a reaction of some sort to their perception of the festival (you may decide if the chinese werewolves celebrate the festival or not). Now with Severus and the wolfsbane potion, he may or may not celebrate the festival and the moon (in chinese ways or in his own).
-Desdemona Snape
no subject
Date: 2004-11-27 08:31 pm (UTC)Your sentiments were beautiful. It seems that Cleo had a very good life and an abundance of love during her time in this world, and maybe that's the best one can hope for.