Touching words to describe how much of a family member our pets become. Thinking of you and your family. Appreciate you writing about it. I am sure I am one of many who understands what a loss like this is like.
I am so sorry for your loss. I have been reading all your Friday Forwards and there have been some very powerful moments that you have written about and I can tell this one really hits the top. Anyone that has lost their pet knows they are family (and sometimes the best family). Your comments about their loyalty and unconditional love is so true. Their loss leaves a big hole but we signed up for the tradeoff. They give you their lifetime of unconditional love and affection knowing that one day they will pass and it will be one of the hardest days in your life. May Ollie's memories stay with you forever.
I always use your "Friday Forwards" in my Friday "Food for Thought" messages to my staff. Today's is such a good life lesson... to love unconditionally like Ollie. Thank you for sharing during this most difficult time for you and your family.
I am so sorry for your loss and appreciate you sharing during this time of grief. I lost my Walt Whitbear last September 2024. I'm crying all over again. Thank you for giving me a chance to grieve him again. I like the poems that are being shared. In honor of my Walt Whitbear, i'll share Whitman's thoughts on death from Song of Myself 1892 version:
"I wish I could translate the hints about the dead young men and women,
And the hints about old men and mothers, and the offspring taken soon out of their laps.
What do you think has become of the young and old men?
And what do you think has become of the women and children?
They are alive and well somewhere,
The smallest sprout shows there is really no death,
And if ever there was it led forward life, and does not wait at the end to arrest it,
And ceas’d the moment life appear’d.
All goes onward and outward, nothing collapses,
And to die is different from what any one supposed, and luckier."
Such a beautiful tribute. I enjoy all your Friday Forwards Robert, but this one brough tears to my eyes. I can totally relate - we had 10 years each with two pets. They truly do become part of the family.
I feel this so deeply. My experience - as time passes, the pain lessens and you get to look on the memories with more joy and less sorrow. We said goodbye to Pongo 5 years ago, and I still see him tied up outside my kids' daycare, waiting and licking every kid that passed. But now it makes me smile instead of tear up, like it did for months. Ollie was lucky to be so very truly loved.
I smiled and cried, feeling my heartache for your family a you have said good-bye to Ollie. Sounds like Ollie grew up in a home filled with love and adventure and he loved you right back! My 40lb mini-bernedoodle sits across my legs (yes, not so mini), and he is the reason why I will bundle up and go walk in this rain. He, like Ollie, counter surfs, but must have help to reach some of the stuff he has grabbed off the counter. We believe he has an secret arrangement with the cats, but no one has proof. Thank you for sharing...this was a heartwarming reflection to wake up to this morning.
I'm so sorry. I've had dogs as companions since I was an infant, and it never gets easier to say goodbye when their time comes. Their lives are far too short. I hope the happy memories and love you shared with Ollie ease the pain of losing him.
Thank you for your transparency. anyone who has lost a dog feels your pain.
Your words reminded me about a lesser-known song by the philosopher Jimmy Buffet (RIP):
She never tells me that she's sick of this house
She never says, "Why don't you get off that couch?"
She don't cost me nothing when she wants to go out
I want you to love me like my dog
She never says I need a new attitude
Her and your sister ain't always in a feud
When I leave the seat up, she don't think that it's rude
I want you to love me like my dog does, baby
When I come home, want you to just go crazy
She never looks at me like she might hate me
I want you to love me like my dog
She never acts like she don't care for my friends
She never asks me, "Where the hell have you been?"
She don't play dead any time I walk in
I want you to love me like my dog does, honey
She never says, "I wish you made more money"
She always thinks that pull my finger's funny
I want you to love me like my dog
She don't get mad at me and throw a major fit
'Cause I said her sister was a bitch
I want you to love me like my dog does, baby
When I come home, want you to just go crazy
She never looks at me like she might hate me
I want you to love me like my dog
Why won't you love me like my dog does, baby
Also, for everyone here reliving their own dog goodbyes, I've always loved this poem:
The Power of the Dog
Rudyard Kipling
There is sorrow enough in the natural way
From men and women to fill our day;
And when we are certain of sorrow in store,
Why do we always arrange for more?
Brothers and Sisters, I bid you beware
Of giving your heart to a dog to tear.
Buy a pup and your money will buy
Love unflinching that cannot lie—
Perfect passion and worship fed
By a kick in the ribs or a pat on the head.
Nevertheless it is hardly fair
To risk your heart for a dog to tear.
When the fourteen years which Nature permits
Are closing in asthma, or tumour, or fits,
And the vet’s unspoken prescription runs
To lethal chambers or loaded guns,
Then you will find—it’s your own affair—
But… you’ve given your heart to a dog to tear.
When the body that lived at your single will,
With its whimper of welcome, is stilled (how still!).
When the spirit that answered your every mood
Is gone—wherever it goes—for good,
You will discover how much you care,
And will give your heart to a dog to tear.
We’ve sorrow enough in the natural way,
When it comes to burying Christian clay.
Our loves are not given, but only lent,
At compound interest of cent per cent.
Though it is not always the case, I believe,
That the longer we’ve kept ’em, the more do we grieve:
For, when debts are payable, right or wrong,
A short-time loan is as bad as a long—
So why in—Heaven (before we are there)
Should we give our hearts to a dog to tear?
Touching words to describe how much of a family member our pets become. Thinking of you and your family. Appreciate you writing about it. I am sure I am one of many who understands what a loss like this is like.
I am so sorry for your loss. I have been reading all your Friday Forwards and there have been some very powerful moments that you have written about and I can tell this one really hits the top. Anyone that has lost their pet knows they are family (and sometimes the best family). Your comments about their loyalty and unconditional love is so true. Their loss leaves a big hole but we signed up for the tradeoff. They give you their lifetime of unconditional love and affection knowing that one day they will pass and it will be one of the hardest days in your life. May Ollie's memories stay with you forever.
I always use your "Friday Forwards" in my Friday "Food for Thought" messages to my staff. Today's is such a good life lesson... to love unconditionally like Ollie. Thank you for sharing during this most difficult time for you and your family.
“And God said, ‘I will send them without wings so no one suspects they are angels.’”
The Pain of Love.
Bob
I am so sorry for your loss and appreciate you sharing during this time of grief. I lost my Walt Whitbear last September 2024. I'm crying all over again. Thank you for giving me a chance to grieve him again. I like the poems that are being shared. In honor of my Walt Whitbear, i'll share Whitman's thoughts on death from Song of Myself 1892 version:
"I wish I could translate the hints about the dead young men and women,
And the hints about old men and mothers, and the offspring taken soon out of their laps.
What do you think has become of the young and old men?
And what do you think has become of the women and children?
They are alive and well somewhere,
The smallest sprout shows there is really no death,
And if ever there was it led forward life, and does not wait at the end to arrest it,
And ceas’d the moment life appear’d.
All goes onward and outward, nothing collapses,
And to die is different from what any one supposed, and luckier."
Thinking of you Ollie and Whitbear. <3
Such a beautiful tribute. I enjoy all your Friday Forwards Robert, but this one brough tears to my eyes. I can totally relate - we had 10 years each with two pets. They truly do become part of the family.
I feel this so deeply. My experience - as time passes, the pain lessens and you get to look on the memories with more joy and less sorrow. We said goodbye to Pongo 5 years ago, and I still see him tied up outside my kids' daycare, waiting and licking every kid that passed. But now it makes me smile instead of tear up, like it did for months. Ollie was lucky to be so very truly loved.
I can see that starting to happen a little more each day, thank you.
So sorry about your loss :-( and thks for sharing with us your thoughs.
I smiled and cried, feeling my heartache for your family a you have said good-bye to Ollie. Sounds like Ollie grew up in a home filled with love and adventure and he loved you right back! My 40lb mini-bernedoodle sits across my legs (yes, not so mini), and he is the reason why I will bundle up and go walk in this rain. He, like Ollie, counter surfs, but must have help to reach some of the stuff he has grabbed off the counter. We believe he has an secret arrangement with the cats, but no one has proof. Thank you for sharing...this was a heartwarming reflection to wake up to this morning.
Never easy losing a family pet. Thank you for sharing this Bob!
Everyone needs an "Ollie" in their lives to remind them of all the attributes of "Your Ollie".
I'm so sorry. I've had dogs as companions since I was an infant, and it never gets easier to say goodbye when their time comes. Their lives are far too short. I hope the happy memories and love you shared with Ollie ease the pain of losing him.
RIP sweet Ollie.