Embracing Loss and Love: Reflecting on Pet Companionship and Setting Intentions for the New Year

As we tread the fragile path of grief, I open my heart to share the poignant journey of our dog Violet's battle with liver cancer. In this deeply personal episode, I discuss the cathartic power of creativity in the face of loss, and how it helps us weave through the complex emotions that accompany the departure of our furry companions. Through stories of past sorrows and the eternal bonds we share with our pets, I reflect on the indelible marks they leave on our lives. I also recount the unexpected comfort my mother found in the company of a stray cat during the aftermath of my father's passing, providing a tender reminder of the solace our animal friends can offer.

As the year's end approaches, I invite you to join me in setting intentions for the New Year that are brimming with love. We'll explore the importance of capturing life's ephemeral beauty, whether through written words or the lens of a camera, and discuss how we can sow seeds of unconditional love with our actions. Let's embrace the memories we've created together this year, and look ahead with gratitude and hope. Sending you off with heartfelt thanks for your companionship, I wish you a year ahead filled with love, happiness, and the cherished presence of those who mean the most.

Our vet- handling everything- through her cremation -Hometown Vet

Chewy- thank you for memorializing her profile

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:06

Good morning to the last episode of 2023, vertically made, and we are going into a new year and I am dealing with a little bit of grief right now. So I'm just going to be very honest in this episode and today's doodle is of our dog, our dog Violet. She's she's 11. And we are losing her. She has liver cancer and this has been a very bittersweet holiday Having to say goodbye. So I am doodling her and talking about how, being a creative, you wear your heart on your sleeve. I feel like a lot of creative people will have big emotions and deal with them through their art, and I know I do. I'm going to miss her tremendously.

Speaker 1: 1:36

She's a boxer, husky, and she was the first dog my husband and I got together. She was one of 11 in a litter and a co-worker of mine. His boxer had her and he lost his wife to cancer and Violet's little mama, lucy. She also died of cancer and it's just so hard. She's such a good girl. She's such a good dog. She's our biggest one. I think I've talked about how we have four dogs and four cats and a ton of koi. My husband is really good with animals and she's such a good girl. It's just so hard because your heart loves animals and you know that their time is so much shorter than ours and we've lost pets.

Speaker 1: 2:54

We had a peek-a-poo in her teens and she passed away a few years ago. And we had a rag doll cat. She was old, she's like 16. She passed away too and it's always been around. On holidays Pixie passed away or on Christmas as well, teasey passed away A Halloween Pixie oh, my Pixie died in our arms. We laid her down and went to go get some stuff to prepare the food. We had to bury her and walked back in the root and she was back to life. It was the weirdest thing. And three months later she did die in our arms again. It was hard. This one is really hard. Of course they always are. We always had, when my girls were little, a little Pomeranian and one of the neighborhood dogs mistook him for, I guess, a groundhog and killed him. It was really hard. It was in front of my oldest daughter Growing up.

Speaker 1: 4:26

I personally had dogs. We weren't a lot to have them in the house. We had a lot of beagles and they were out and they would get hit by a car. It's just heartbreaking. I love animals. I love having our animals. Growing up I tried to have some dogs with the girls and they have their own pets. One daughter has a little cat, another daughter and they have a couple cat and another daughter. She has actually our first bulldog, thor's sister, so there's a sibling with her, and the boys they have dogs. It's really hard.

Speaker 1: 5:23

I deal with a lot of emotions through art. A lot of grief comes out, I think, memorializing pets. I've painted pets for people from memories. I've painted and drawn pets. When people have lost pets I use my laser to engrave them. Our memories thinking back, having them are just so precious. They bring so much joy into our lives. It's so funny because, like I said, growing up we were not have pets in the house. My mom has such a hard time when we come home because we're covering all the pets with us. I mean I don't like to kennel them, nothing against kenneling. I just you know we have four dogs and then we have the cats. I always like to try to have someone stay here at the house with our pets Whenever we travel to house sit and pets sit everybody. That usually works out pretty well, but sometimes we just take them with us. My mom just has such a hard time with them all.

Speaker 1: 6:41

When my dad passed away, there was a cat that came around that night to her house. She lives in a little village, a little town, and there are a lot of stray cats. This one just was winding itself around her legs and she just found comfort in this cat. It wasn't allowed to stay in the house, but when my dad died the youngest daughter went to live with my mom. It really helped in that transition. She'd bring that cat in and take it in her room to sleep. My mom ended up calling it my dad's name. She would take it to the vet and take care of it, and she did. It had an outside heated house, but my daughter would still bring it in every night. She lives on a busy road and it eventually got hit by a car. That was really hard for her. She was so attached to the cat I wish she would have kept it in the house, but she didn't. Now she has another one that she cares for and it's outside. It's so good to have something to focus on for her. I know she likes taking care of that cat, which is funny, but it's comforting to me that she has a cat.

Speaker 1: 8:21

It's just amazing how much joy a pet brings to your life, how much comfort. But you are their whole world. They're just so forgiving and loving. It's just a blessing that you get to raise them. It's just so hard when they're ill or hurt. I remember Thor when he and his sister were here. Our daughter was on her way to pick up her dog and he jumped on his sister and broke her little bone in her elbow. She cried and my husband just was like that is the worst sound I ever heard. It was awful. Riley had to take that poor little dog back to Seattle and cast on an airplane and it healed. She's a beautiful little Frenchie but they spent time.

Speaker 1: 9:34

I think that you just want to do to care for your animals. I think that's one of the most favorite things that I get to do. Whenever I create something, it's when it means something to someone and helps them get through their pain, because their heart was so full with that animal there. It's so hard to feel that void when they're gone. I just had to share how important it is to help someone grieve through being creative. It could be making them a meal or cookies or a picture, but just listening to them reminisce about their animal, no matter what kind of animal.

Speaker 1: 10:51

To have the chance to love something in this world is so amazing. It just speaks to the unconditional pureness of love. It's just important to honor that. I just I'm looking, I don't know. I don't know what I'm looking for going into the new year because I'm going to miss her. Oh oh, but just loving our other animals, continuing to care for them and remind them how much we love them. I know it'll be hard for them too, but you don't want them to suffer and you don't want them hurting, and we've tried to make her as comfortable and feel as loved as long as possible, without going past that threshold of being selfish and just wanting her around because we don't want to let her go. It's just hard, just really hard, so hard decision to make and to deal with.

Speaker 1: 12:47

I know a lot of people are going to be able to relate to that I've missed. There are others that have gone. Beautiful memories of them, talk about them often and the joy they brought to our lives. We have photographs of my daughters that they can over the years with them, art and their little collars. Thanks to remember them and the funny stories and the things that they did and Don't let it deter you from having a pet either. I don't want to have to lose something, so I don't want to start a minute of those feelings. Their lives are so short, they're so little, and if you have the time and energy and ability to care for an animal, the return of that is far greater than the momentary pain it takes when there are time comes to get through it. Because she knows that she was loved and cared for and celebrated and went on vacation with us and she was a good girl and we're better for having her in our lives to teach us patience and love. So If you're creative and you have friends and family, you lose a pet, do something sweet to help them get through it, because it means a lot. If you have a business, then you can allow pets Do it. It's amazing how much that means to enjoy a moment with your pet right by you.

Speaker 1: 15:14

I'm always floored how it's Seattle you can take your pets almost everywhere. It's just so funny to see them in stores and stuff around here. When people have them in the stores we're always like, oh look, we'll be out of an event, a public event, and people have their pets and it's just wonderful. I love it. But yeah, I just wanted to talk a little bit about going through that and going into a new year with our family built a little differently. So so hard. I appreciate you listening, appreciate you being here and sharing my thoughts around my beautifully made curl. I'm sure my next episode will be a little bit more upbeat, but I couldn't pretend that everything was all peachy when it's not and I had to be a little real today.

Speaker 1: 16:47

So go into your new years Eve this weekend with lots of love in your heart. Make a list of things that you want to do that will share unconditional love in the new year. Make wonderful memories. Time flies so fast. Take time to make a difference in the life of somebody, some animal, yourself. Don't let it go by without, I guess, recording something in writing or a memory and pictures. Don't don't let it go by so fast. Capture some moments, keep them close. I will see you next year. Thanks for being with me. Happy new year. Lots of love. Stay briefly made. Thank you, thank you, thank you, you, you, you do. Once a year, do ever.