My dog Cass passed away in my arms on Sunday. Her heart started having problems again and we just couldn't reverse it this time. I got to thank her and tell her I will love her always and forever before she went.
I know everyone thinks that their pets and their kids are the most special. But she really was a truly special creature. She was so much more than a dog. She was a presence, a force, my guardian angel. She came into my life at a time when I had of things to learn, and she taught them to me. The last couple years have been some of the roughest of my life, and she stuck with me through all of it. At times, she was the only reason I got through it. She was the only thing that kept me going. In short, she saved my life.
I have never met a more emotionally intelligent being than she was. She had a way of looking at me that made me know, like her namesake, she knew things that she couldn't express to me. That she knew things about all of us that we didn't know. We don't have a word for something like that, though William Faulkner tried to invent one: Cassandralike. Some people never get anything like that in their lives. I was lucky enough to get five years of her. I don't know anyone who met her who didn't love her. And she loved everyone she met. And it was symbolically fitting that in the end it was her heart that gave out.
I am heartbroken and devastated. I still can't really believe she's gone. I still feel her at the end of my bed. I still feel like she's just in the other room, just out of earshot. I still feel like she's sitting next to the window staring out. I still look for her at the top of the stairs and in the hallway and I can't believe she's not there.
But she went when she knew I could handle this. She hung on through countless heart and stomach problems, through pain I never knew about that she never showed me, because that's who she was. She waited until she knew I would take the love she gave me and turn it into something good. She waited until she knew I was okay, that I was going to be okay, even if I didn't know it yet. She waited until she knew I could see her death for what it was, her last challenge to me, to do this now, without her. To live my life as best I can. And I need to do that now. For her. And she needs to go help someone else.
I will love her always and forever, and take her with me wherever I go.
Cassandra Penelope Seelig
December 23, 2011-May 6, 2018
Thank you for making me feel such a part of this community that I felt I had to share this with all of you.
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Comments
People who can build that sort of bond with an animal are special people in my view.
I hope eventually you can remember Cass with only a smile and not a tear.
It'll be hard for you for a while but try and think of all the memories and the happy times she gave you.
'Run to the Bridge' beautiful girl'
RIP Cass
Now running a kennels and cattery we get so heartbroken when one of our regular guests pass over the rainbow bridge that we truly couldn't bare the loss of a dog of our own.
Sending you goaty love and hugs xxxxx
My sincere condolences on your loss and I hope that in time the happy memories will outweigh the sadness and emptiness.
RIP Cass, and I hope that you will always remember the great times you had with her.
That's the thing with dogs - they never judge you, they just love you.
We've got a cat in our house and I share a mutual loathing with him, but boy would I miss him if he wasn't there.
Rest in peace Cass.
I share your pain mate.
Rip Cass
The Rainbow Bridge
By the edge of a woods, at the foot of a hill,
Is a lush, green meadow where time stands still.
Where the friends of man and woman do run,
When their time on earth is over and done.
For here, between this world and the next,
Is a place where each beloved creature finds rest.
On this golden land, they wait and they play,
Till the Rainbow Bridge they cross over one day.
No more do they suffer, in pain or in sadness,
For here they are whole, their lives filled with gladness.
Their limbs are restored, their health renewed,
Their bodies have healed, with strength imbued.
They romp through the grass, without even a care,
Until one day they start, and sniff at the air.
All ears prick forward, eyes dart front and back,
Then all of a sudden, one breaks from the pack.
For just at that instant, their eyes have met;
Together again, both person and pet.
So they run to each other, these friends from long past,
The time of their parting is over at last.
The sadness they felt while they were apart,
Has turned into joy once more in each heart.
They embrace with a love that will last forever,
And then, side-by-side, they cross over… together.
God bless @SDAddick