How to Bury a Dog
Thu, 12 Jul 2007 08:05:38 -0700
Many thanks to all who sent condolences.
Yesterday I and my two Belg girls trucked Jay Jay's body down to
Corvallis to be buried on the beautiful land occupied by Dave and
Joan, a place perfectly restored to it's natural state. When I
arrived, I saw the most perfect and beautiful grave ever...Dave dug
all day in the hard ground - it was a perfect rectangle with lots of
room for my boy to rest. Jay Jay was buried with one of his tennis
balls, a cute lamby, and for a pillow he received a flannel pajama
top that Chris had given me for Christmas. It had little sheep on it,
and Jay Jay wore it on chilly nights after I shaved his overgrown
coat. One final stroke on a beautiful black paw, and then a little
Tervlet with an uncertain name (Digger?) began the process of
covering over the finest dog I have known.
I never new burying a dog could be so fun. Placing him close to the
earth and feeling the dirt around him...we took turns covering him
over and Dave spread seed pods in the dirt, and Joan piled rocks
around the edges. When we were done, I ran my fingers through the
dirt. I felt I was petting Jay Jay. It was such a delicious
feeling...my sweet, handsome Prince who I could now feel in the
earth! And then we drank a toast and the Belgian's celebrated - four
adult black dogs, a black puppy, a tervlet, and a juvenile black dog
all milling about - well really the puppies were racing around. Kylie
guarded the grave for a time. We sat there and drank a toast to Jay
Jay and the exquisite view that nature provided from that vantage
point. The beautiful stone markers of Obsidian and Lava reflected the
care that went into preparing this site as a loving place to honor
the memory of our beloveds.
I promise that Jay Jay was smiling and celebrating his new
weightless, bouncy, pain-free form.
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. I can still feel the vast empty
space left by my boy, and yet I feel him all around me. And I feel
complete in knowing I did what he wanted in putting him close to the
earth.
Tracy
In Loving Memory...http://www.tracywessel.com/JayJay.html