We still hear them

So many of you have written me that have lost beloved pets to the

Rainbow Bridge and tell me how you still know that they are close,

even as they are sure they have passed.  This is not very unusual.  I

have heard so many stories like that.

A collar sits on the bedside and you can still smell your friend.  His

warmth is there as you sleep to comfort you.

Your window is open over your bed at night in the warm summer.  A wind

blows by and on that wind is the bark of a dog.  You recognize the

bark as from one you have just lost.  He is truly not gone, but still

watching over you at night.

You get up at night and walk to the bathroom.  A dog brushes your leg.

You feel the warm hair and warm breath on your dog, the dog that is

now at the Rainbow Bridge.  It is impossible, but you just know he is

still near.

You are half asleep in your chair in the living room.  Not quite gone,

but half awake.  A soft furry head bumps your hand and you know it is

the one that has passed.  It has the same feel, the same height and

the same touch of the dog that just passed.

Asleep in bed at night you feel a soft warm breath on your cheek.  It

is a remembered memory, one you don't ever want to forget, one you

will never believe.

We all remember holding our babies as they passed.  We don't want to

forget that memory as it holds us to them for the rest of our

memories.

Personally I have lost many and none have really left me.  I see them

as a shadow.  I smell their scent and feel their breath.  I glimpse

them out of the corner of my eye, hear their bark day and night.  I

know they are always close.  Those that have left me two days ago and

those that left me 25 years ago.  They truly are still here.  In my

heart with their paw prints, in my eyes with their ghostly shape and

in my ears as I hear their bark, different from that of the other dogs

still with me and especially in my mind.  The sound, scent, touch and

feeling is still there for so many.  I know it should not be this way,

but it IS.

The love and devotion does stay with us, all of us that have truly

loved a dog, a cat, a horse or any breathing friend that has been a

true part of our heart and our life.  I know, because I still see,

hear and feel.  Until I go to collect my many friends at the Rainbow

Bridge.