Our beloved Canine son, Carter, our 11-year old Yellow Lab, is very sick.
What started a few weeks ago, appearing to be the a routine distraction from food – a neighbor’s pet in heat – has manifested itself into complications we may not recover from. Cancer.
While our hearts are breaking, they are not completely shattered. Big difference.
We have no regrets with Carter. We have given and received all there is and was, to give and receive.
Peace and blessings. Faith, Hope and Love.
Life. Death.
Trust in the Lord with all our heart, all our mind, and all our strength.
And then cry like a baby, until we can no longer stay awake.
Are there things in your life that are difficult to talk about? Things that scare you to talk about?
Me too. But not as much lately. Why? Because of things that have happened and the lessons learned.
Namely, becoming a parent. And thinking about the type of parent a child should have, there are a few key concepts that seem all too obvious to practice well.
Being honest.
On our sunset walk the other night, with our Dog, our son and I talked about random things. Clouds. The sky’s color. The cold air. His “winter” clothing. Sounds we heard. Jokes. Junk.
And then for some reason, as we were turning off the road and through the woods to our house, I saw Carter, our yellow Lab (10), come following behind us.
“You know Carter’s not going to live forever, right? All things die. Carter will die some day. You know this right?”
It felt like the right moment to say that, mostly because of a recent conversation with a death expert.
This “death expert” works in Hospice and Palliative Care. She mentioned that her vision would be that everyone in her community would “die well”, not just her company’s “customers”.
It hit me in a weird, but glorious sort of way. Her honesty. Her frankness. Her ease in talking about death.
Eureka!
If we are aware and not too afraid, we can help Carter die well. We should start thinking about it before we need to.
