Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Mr. C. and Spring

Alice heard late last night the father of one of her human friends had passed away. And, then today that a six year old tibetan spaniel named Spring, very beloved by her people, had passed away that same day. One had throat cancer which was diagnosed only two weeks ago, but had already spread all over. The other had pancreatic cancer, also spread all over before it could be diagnosed.
A bit more than twenty years ago, my first forever person's husband died unexpectedly on a consulting trip in Philadelphia. Almost the same day, a close friend of Alice and Pika's people had his and his wife's first baby. Someone dies. Someone is born.
Another year, one of Pika's people's first dogs died within days of a beloved teacher who loved dogs herself. Alice and her family imagined that dog leaping around and playing with their teacher since both loved to play so much -- with all of the dogs the teacher had loved during her long life.

Now, I know young Spring is leading Mr. C. to his new life. That's what many Buddhists believe. When humans die, they are led to their next life by a dog with a lantern on its tail. Passing away the very same day suffering almost exactly the same illness for exactly the same time? Can't be a coincidence. A place to go from darkness to light. Moving forward as I *always* want to do on all my walks.