A message from the other side...

I have always believed that the distance between this life and the next - those that are living and those that have passed on - is best described as a veil. I believe I have experienced this because I often talk to my mother who has been gone five years this May, and on occasion feel her presence beside me.....

Anyway, recently, my 17 year old dog died and I was devastated. If you are a follower of this blog - you already know how I felt about her..... As she past I kept my cool, but as soon as I got to the privacy of the car - my heart broke and I groaned with pain. I know it sounds dramatic, but if you are a dog lover you know what I am talking about.

Anyway,  I missed her everyday and miss her every time I get in the car, go to the beach, see a tennis ball or even go to bed. I miss holding her in my arms and kissing her but most of all, I miss touching her. I knew from experience that time heals and that Simba's passing would eventually not hurt, but I didn't realise that she would be the one that would help me... you see, I think that she has sent me a message from the other side.

A couple of weeks after Simba died my husband came home and said that he had heard Simba barking. He looked around and knew that dogs were not allowed where he was, but said he heard her barking again. He got the distinct impression that she was okay and that she wanted me to know that. The moment he told me that I knew it was true because I had a feeling that she was close... I can't explain it but my heart started to mend....

However, the most impressive message I have received has come in the most unlikely of forms - a black cat. This cat, who I have called Skinny because she had the skinniest legs that I had ever seen on a cat  - just walked into our lives. I had seen her earlier when Simba was alive but never paid her much attention as she was just one of the strays that were around.... and here she is.

Quite simply, she came into my home and my family and although against her experience as a stray cat she lets us stroke her and pat her. Her ears prick up when we call her Skinny and comes to us when we call, well she brushes her tail up against your hand when you call. She is still jittery when loud noises are made, and even looks like she is ready to skidattle in second but even those kinds of jerky movements are lessening. She is yet to allow me to hold her in my arms but this may come with time.

Unlike Simba, Skinny is not the prettiest of cats - and black as Simba was white... Her eyes are damaged and once we get to the vet, I'll know why, but she already gives my nieces the creeps because of it. Her tail is always up in the air which is different from Simba whose tail was broken and never lifted much.... She follows me when I get up and move around the house for no reason, and is content just sitting beside me doing nothing....

I'm trying not to like her, we all are - out of loyalty to Simba I guess...... but all I know is that when I wake up she is on my bed having jumped on sometime during the evening....... Surely, she has been sent as a message from the other side.

Thank you, and I love you Simba xx

Mxo

Simba & Me

I can't sleep so here I am writing to you. It's not even my normal blog day but I had to do something. We have just had my beautiful seventeen year old Bichon Friese put down after suffering renal failure for some time. We had organised the vet to come to our home tomorrow but this evening her pain increased with an inflamed colon or bowel and I couldn't bear to hear her making these moaning noises so I rang the on-call vet. On arrival, we had a couple of options - to either give her some painkiller to get her through the night and go ahead with her euthanasia tomorrow or to put her down now. We chose the later..... It was quick for her but going to be a long journey for me.....

If you aren't an animal person - don't even bother reading ahead because try as you will - you are never going to get it..... This blog is personal and simple - it's about Simba and me.

OWNERSHIP

Simba was orginally my mother's dog. My mum was given a Bichon puppy to replace her two companion dogs (chihuahuas) who had both died within a short period of each other about a year earlier. We picked the puppy up from Papakura and brought her and and a sister home (the sister was destined for another friend). Simba's mother was a pedigree Bichon Friese, but by the looks of the litter - she had been visited by a little fox terrior if you know what I mean ;-) Simba and my mother bonded but it was never the same for Mum and Simba ended up coming to me. When my husband and I moved - we were unable to have pets so Simba had to stay behind with Mum but as soon as we could have the dog - Simba became a permanent part of my home and life.

CHILDREN

My children have grown up with Simba. She came to us in February 1995, six months before the boys and was only a puppy when they arrived ;-) My earliest memory of her is when, after feeding and changing the boys, I sat propped up in my mum's bed (we moved in with her after the babies were born) resting, with a twin in each of my arms and not to be outdone - was my other baby - Simba lying snuggled up around my neck and off the four of us would go into the land of snooze. The other memory is of her going crazy - running up and down the hallway trying to get my attention when the babies started crying like no one else in the neighbourhood would have heard 'that' racket ;-) I used to say to her "where's the boys?" or "let's go and get the boys" and off she would go to either find them or out the door to the car to get going.... Every niece and nephew that came after she arrived have a 'simba' story. She loved the children and she was loved by them....

LOAFER

Simba was a 'loafer' - she loved to roam - on foot of course, but if she could have chosen the mode of travel - it would be by car EVERY time. She loved to hang out the window and let that wind just about re-arrange her face. When she was younger she could hold herself up and perch out the window  for as long as the car was moving - summer or winter, even a bit of rain was tolerated, but not for long ;-) As she got older she would need some assistance so she would sit on someone's arm - whose kidding, on my arm so she didn't have to stand for long.... Sometimes she would sit on the back window area but her favourite was leaning out the window. I will miss my little loafer.

BEAUTY in the eye of the beholder

I thought Simba was beautiful. There is a saying that a dog starts looking like their owner... well if that was the truth then I was in good company ;-) The problem with Simba is her coat - when it got wet, it smelt like wet wool, when it grew too long it matted, and of course with a broken tail from a previous encounter with the tyres of a speeding car - the back end sometimes left a lot of work for me to do, if you know what I mean...... so we had her groomed every couple of months. I'm not sure if Simba minded or not - actually what dog does like a bath so she probably HATED it ;-), but I remember on one occasion early on, the groomer meeting me on my return to the practice to pick her up to inform me that she had to give Simba a sedative to get her groomed - a sedative! I never went back there because I believed the groomer had the problem not Simba.... anyway - with or without the groom she as beautiful... and by the way, she never ever needed a sedative again.... so I was right - it was the groomer and Simba WASN'T a drama queen ;-)

Unconditional LOVE

What I am going to miss above all else is the love that only a pet can give. She was happy to see me EVERY time, not just when she was in the mood - but EVERY day. If I remained in the car after arriving home either on the phone or just organising myself - she would stand on the porch and bark as if to say - "hurry up woman and get in here!" Before she got sick, and even well into her old age, she would play this game when she would come up to me then run away and around the kitchen and lounge or down to the room and back, and I would follow her, then she would stop then turn around and follow me back....  If I was missing from somewhere for too long - she would come and seek me out, if on the computer she would come and sit at my feet or on her mat until I went to bed and then she would follow me into the room and on her bed. Even in her last days she would walk around and make sure we were all okay. We have video footage of her checking on the boys in their rooms, me wherever I was, and her father recording her.... I will miss her for this the most - her unconditional love....

Rest in peace my Simba. Mummy loves you.

Mxo