Starting the day with tears of both sadness and joy as I just watched The 7MSN's tribute to Lucy, a gorgeous donkey who left this world last week. It's so hard to say goodbye to our beloved equines. Lucy leaves so many memories for her 7MSN family to treasure, but I know the heartbreak is huge right now.
Yesterday I was at the barn with my beloved equines, experiencing the full range of emotions that come with sharing space and time with other living things: joy, love, awe, annoyance, and finally gratitude. If I'm annoyed it means they're alive and well and doing things that don't always fit with my plan of action for the day. I stopped in that moment to remind myself of that.
After two horse hoof trims and a lot of mucking, I was besieged by a horse fly who stubbornly followed the horses into the barn and decided I was the best target. In a stall, flinging a muck rake around, my glasses flying through the air because the thing landed on my face and I swatted it, and my glasses, away, I was joined by the pony, who came in the stall with me, trying to help, and by Cody, who hung his handsome head over the stall door and did what he could to offer support as the fly bit me in the one part of my back I couldn't reach.
They're my herd, and we share so much. It's heartbreaking when one of them leaves us. Seize the day. Sink deep into the moments when things are funny, hard, sad, crazy, and full of love. In the end, all of those memories will be oh so precious. But the best thing - you'll have lived them.
Hugs to Lucy's herd at 7MSN.
billie hinton’s camera-obscura:
life and lessons on November Hill Farm
2 comments:
You're so right about enjoying our animal friends everyday. We never know what will happen tomorrow. I've been heartbroken a few times and it's a hard emotion to come back from. After a time the happy and funny and crazy memories help. I just watched Lucy's tribute with tears running down my face. Some wouldn't understand how we can get so emotional about a donkey or horse we haven't met but if you treasure animals I think it's a universal feeling of loss and grief for the person who lost their beloved friend and the animal itself.
You put this so perfectly, A. I think those of us who are as bonded as we are to our animals know exactly how it feels and we do tap into that universal loss and grief. Plus, those of us who have been reading one another's blogs for many years feel like we know the people and their animals as if we were next door neighbors. We are, in a way! I have cried several times thinking of Lucy and Carson and George and Alan. The tribute had me sobbing. So many images of good days with that lovely girl.
Post a Comment