Passings
This has been a sad week on among those on my blogroll as old friends have left for the Rainbow Bridge.
The week started with Kayla: A Life, And A Lifesaver, over at NTodd’s place, and then on Friday, TED AUGUST 1998 – 8 DECEMBER 2012 at Jam’s.
I realize that some people will never understand the attachment that people have for their animal companions, and I feel sorry for them. If you are human and you share your life with another creature for any length of time, a bond will be established. If you look at it objectively, it is quite similar to parenting. You have many of the same responsibilities for the life of your friend, as you would for a child. In return you get love and trust.
Kayla helped NTodd get over a rough patch in his life, and while Ted was the ‘tuxedo terror of Romford’, he had personality.
Even though I only knew them via the ‘Net, I can feel and understand the meaning of their loss.
6 comments
It’s fascinating how some people try to deny a pet’s personality or belittle the bonding that has occurred or suggest that a person is somehow weak for caring for a species other than human. Over several months my sister coaxed a very grumpy feral cat to first not flee when she brought food to his spot in her backyard, then to allow her to be present when he ate, then to allow himself to be gently patted, then finally to allow his badly matted fur to be trimmed and brushed. He now lives right outside her bedroom sliding glass door in a small plastic pet house with towel bedding and bowls of water and kibble nearby.
The fear and suspicion turned to grumpy acceptance and then turned to trust. (All I get is furious hissing as he flees into the bushes.) My sister delights in his acceptance of her and he definitely has become attached. Pets and people need each other.
People derive health benefits from pets, including a reduction in blood pressure, and a check on anger. They provide consistency in the life of older people, i.e. you have to take care of the pets, so you have to get up and do things at specific times.
Dogs are now being trained to work with people with PTSD, as they have with other disabilities.
There is a lot of truth in the statement – ‘if you want a friend, get a dog’ because they don’t care what you look like, where you buy your clothes, or any of the other superficial things that often define the human version of friendship.
Strapping his dog on the top of his car pretty much defined who Rmoney really was.
Thanks Bryan. We miss Ted terribly. We seriously thought that Robyn would be the next to go.
My condolences to Jams and NTodd. It is terribly hard to lose a pet.
“I realize that some people will never understand the attachment that people have for their animal companions, and I feel sorry for them.” – Bryan
Truer words were never writ! Our pets ARE family; their deaths are as deaths of family members. My sincere condolences to jams and NTodd.
Jams, I will certainly miss the ‘further adventures of Ted, the evil feline genius’, admittedly not as much as I miss Mimi, but she was special. Your pictures told a story that engaged people in the personalities of Ted and Mimi. The pictures were the key to their personalities, and a tribute to their lives, as short as they were.
OWL and Steve. there is something wrong with people who can’t connect to animals. Losing them is hard, but they provide joy when they are here. One of the neighbors can’t have pets because of his allergies, but he interacts with the neighborhood animals knowing full well that he is going to have to go home, take a shower and benadryl after he does it. It is the human thing to do.