Parker's Memorial - One Month

Note from the 'rents...
My better half thought that we needed a memorial for Parker to sit next to the one that we have for Payton. I am a lucky woman to have such a sweet and thoughtful husband. Now we can look out our window and think of both of much-loved, much missed girls.
I found a poem that did a good job on saying how I felt the day we lost Parker.
It was a month ago today. The pain is still sharp and deep. But there are smiles in some memories of her. Parker Pie was such a great kitty.

The Greatest Gift

I always knew this time would come,

From the very instant our eyes first met.

How I loved you then! How I love you now!

I made a promise then, and I will keep that promise now...

You will not suffer from a pain that will not heal;

You will not know the loss of a life remembered, now gone.

It is for me alone to make this decision,

The price for the bright joy and pure laughter

You brought me during the time we shared.

I am the only one who can decide when it is time.

When my hope dies, and my fear rides high,

Just when I need you most, I must let you go.

It is for you alone to tell me when you are ready

For without your guidance, I will not know

When to lay my grief, my guilt, my anger

My sorrow and my selfish heart aside

and give you this last gift, this greatest gift.

You eyes will speak to mine and I will know.

The pain of this moment is excruciating.  

Tears stream down my face in a river of sorrow. 

And my heart drowns in a pool of grief.

For you have spoken and I have listened, 

and unlike other decisions I have made

This one brings no relief...no comfort...no peace.

For if there's one thing you've taught me

If there's only one thing I've learned....

Unconditional love has a condition after all,

I must be willing to let you go, when you speak to me

I must be willing to help you go, if you cannot go alone

And I must accept my pain so you can be free of yours.

Go easily now, go quickly now,

Do not linger here, it is time for you to leave.

Go find your strength, go find your youth

Go find the ones who have gone before you

You are free to leave me now, free to let your spirit soar

Rest easy now; your pain will soon be gone.

I pray I will find comfort in my memories...

in the dark and lonely days ahead.

I cannot say I will not miss you, I cannot say I will not cry.

For only my tears can heal my broken heart.

But I promise you this; as long as I live, 

You will live, alive in my mind, forever in my heart.

So I give you this last gift, all I have left to give,

And this will be my greatest gift...sending you away.

It is the measure of my unconditional love....

For only the greatest love can say

"Goodbye, go find the bridge, we'll meet again,

Loving you has been the greatest gift of all."

By Karla Bertram

11/23/96

A Post From Parker's 'Rents

Parker on her last earthly day and Parker back home and living in our hearts

How hard this is. Such a tiny little creature. She brought so much joy into our lives and the absence of her physical presence is painful. Today is one week. We miss her so much.

Your comments, your posts and cards, your prayers - all of it eases the sadness. There are no words to tell all of you how grateful we are for the support. All of the outpouring of love for that tiny little kitty that gave the very best smoochies. All we can manage right now is a very heartfelt thank-you.

Parker did not suffer. She left for the Bridge in my arms with her Daddy right next to us petting her. She left quickly and peacefully - I believe in my heart that she was ready to go. No more blindness and weakness, no more uncertainty. She went with Godspeed and with love. I know she went straight to the Bridge and was greeted by all of our beloved ones who came before. Dr. Joe and his vet tech Becky could not have been more kind or more gentle. We allowed Puff and Powder, Rudy and Diamond to approach her afterwords. Rudy stayed the longest - he sniffed and looked and then just sat next to her basket. They all know what had transpired. It was tragic and precious all at the same time.

We drove her to the funeral home about a hour later and left her in very good hands.

By Friday morning, she was home with us again.

The remainder of this week has been surreal. I know that time helps ease this pain. Someday there will be more smiles than tears when we think or speak of her.

Her blog will go on. There are three more wonderful kitties and a good doggie who have things to share and say. 

I think Parker would like that...



aeternum in corde

August 2001 - May 24th, 2012

"aeternum in corde"



Where to Bury A Cat

There are various places within which a cat may be buried. We are thinking now of a tabby cat, a striped cat, whose coat was like watered silk, and who, so far as we are aware, never entertained a mean or an unworthy thought. This cat is buried beneath a cherry tree, under four feet of garden loam, and at its proper season the cherry strews petals on the green lawn of his grave. Beneath a cherry tree, or an apple, or any flowering shrub of the garden, is an excellent place to bury a good cat. For beneath such trees, such shrubs, he slept in the drowsy summer, or chased bees, or lifted head to challenge some winged intruder. These are good places, in life or in death.For if the cat be well remembered, if sometimes he leaps through your dreams actual as in life, eyes kindling, questing, asking, laughing, begging, it matters not at all where that cat sleeps at long and at last. On a hill where the wind is unrebuked and the trees are roaring, or beside a stream he knew in kittenhood, or somewhere in the flatness of a pasture land, where the most exhilarating moles burrow. It is all one to the cat, and all one to you, and nothing is gained, and nothing lost -- if memory lives. But there is one best place to bury a cat. One place that is best of all.If you bury him in this spot, the secret of which you must already have guessed, he will come to you when you call -- come to you over the grim, dim frontiers of death, and down the well-remembered path, and to your side again. And though you call a dozen living cats, they shall not hiss at him, nor resent his coming, for he is yours and he belongs there.People may scoff at you, who see no lightest blade of grass bent by his footfall, who hear no mew pitched too fine for mere audition, people who may never really have had a cat. Smile at them then, for you shall know something that is hidden from them, and which is well worth the knowing.The one best place to bury a good cat is in the heart of his owner.

by Ben Hur Lampman, Portland Oregonian, 1921

Godspeed Parker, we love you so very, very much. xoxoxoxox