The Ebb and Flow of life

As new life emerges all around me today, with the warm sun opening blossoms everywhere I look, old life passes on. This morning I received a phone call from my friend Ellen postponing some plans we had – her parents’ dearly loved dog, Benji, was critically ill and possibly in organ failure.

Benji was adopted by Ellen’s parents when his elderly owner died about ten years ago, and quickly had them wrapped around his little paws. He was a little white fluff-ball, likely a shih tzu/llaso apso mix. In recent months, he has shown signs of Cushing’s disease. Although slowing down, Benji still appeared to be doing quite well most days.

But on last night’s walk he suddenly stopped and refused to go further. This morning he was clearly in distress and so Ellen rushed into town to help her parents take him to the vet. Sadly, his time on earth was over, and they held him in their arms while he was helped to pass.

I never met Benji, but got to know him vicariously through Ellen’s frequent stories of him. And I can only imagine the heartbreak her parents, both seniors, are feeling at his loss. Ellen and family, I am so sorry.

This is the third friend of mine who has said goodbye to a dear companion animal this week – an ironic twist of nature when so much new is springing up around us.

And that is the cycle of life – we are born, we live, we die. But our spirit lives on in the hearts of those we touched, and that enables those hearts to love still others that come after us.

I remember when Caleb was fading, how much I hoped he would live long enough to feel the warm sun on his face and smell the fresh green shoots emerge from the earth once more. It was not to be. But I do believe that spring is the best time of year to pass, because even though we are gone from our earthly place, the new life everywhere reminds those left behind that life is a continuum, the spirit is eternal, and death is just part of a greater plan.