The other night out of the blue (so it seemed) John said, “Cassie Jo will be gone 10-years this year.”
I said, “Wow, you are right. July 11, 2005, one week before my birthday is when she passed away. What made you just think of that?”
He had been cleaning out some office files. And what a gift that he came across what I called “A Closing Prayer” that I had written for Cassie Jo, our chocolate Lab who had just turned ten at the end of June that year.
I wrote this prayer two months after we had decided where we wanted to scatter her ashes.
I always take this as signs from our beloved pets that their spirit is reminding us of the love we shared with them. And I welcomed re-visiting what I had wrote to her, feeling a flood of pure love flow through me as I did.
I must also share that I do refer to the Rainbow Bridge in my prayer, though I’m not so sure what to feel about that these days. I have mixed emotions about it – but I do understand it as a symbol for many to find a place in their hearts to connect with the pets they have lost and love so much. I truly get that as I felt that way too at one time.
But for me now, I feel more and more like their spirit is around us often – a part of them always a part of us – so in that essence they are not somewhere else waiting – but they are among us – just in a way in which we can’t see. This is just how I see it these days. I’m not saying there isn’t a Rainbow Bridge, as it certainly helped me many times with the passing of many pets before this.
However we each honor our pets and remember them is what is important – and how we take what they taught us and learn to be better human beings – that, I think, is one of their greatest gifts and the best way in which we can honor them.
—
A Closing Prayer for Cassie Jo
Time to say our final good-bye, to gently let the wind sift through your ashes and place you oh, so softly, among the beauty of nature—a part of you we release to lay on the soft green blades of grass under the maple tree in front of our olive green home we call our cottage in the village.
Another area of rest we release you to is the serene and mystical marsh where you and Papa would play and bond your hearts together every Sunday morning. At the marsh a part of you we let go to frolic among the flowers, another to float lazily down the river, and a part to run free among the field of bounty.
Two months to the day we helped to ease you over the Rainbow Bridge and watched as you lay in peace, free of pain, and once again, a puppy of your youth returned as you entered heaven.
We still miss you so much, my dear Cassie Jo – our hearts will always feel an ache, but as the days have passed, smiles have returned to our hearts as we talk about all the blessings you brought to our lives.
We lovingly referred to you as our “little pony” on days you were full of sunshine and energy, and romped through the yard, your ears flapping in the wind, and your tail propelling you to run faster.
So, today we lovingly scatter your ashes to the earth, our “little pony” to run free forever, with love and joy.
We will see you again someday and when that day comes, it will be a day unlike any we lived with you on this temporary existence called earth. Till then, know that you will always live within each of our hearts and know because of you, we are stronger and gentler people because of all you taught us.
-Barbara Techel
Sept. 11, 2005
