Feeling Loss

Sadly and unexpectedly, my in-laws’ dog passed away Sunday evening. The dog's name was Lily. Cherish and Lily were sweetly close. Lily always got special privileges when Cherish came to visit.

This past week, Cherish was at her grandparents’ house five out of the seven days—due to visiting friends and their young daughter being in town. The guests’ daughter’s name is Lily, as well, and Cherish fell in love with her. (Thus, Cherish went over to her grandparent’s house as often as possible to play with the little girl.)

Saturday evening Cherish was hugging Lily’s neck (the dog), telling me how very special Lily is and how much she really loves Lily. That same night, Lily, her new friend, flew home to Colorado, and the next evening, Lily, the dog, passed away.

Sunday afternoon Cherish was grieving the loss of her friend—whom she had grown to love. Hours later I found out about Lily, the dog, passing away. I kept it hidden from Cherish until the following morning.

Monday morning when Cherish and I had Bible Study, we read about the beginning of the world, and how God created animals and people. We talked about the difference between animals and people (people having souls and having an opportunity to go to heaven—a topic we’ve talked a lot about in the past). I asked Cherish if all the animals God had created way back then were still alive. She said, “yes.” I told her they were no longer alive, and then we joked about how “crazy” it would be if all the animals that ever lived were still alive. Cherish said laughingly, “If all of them were still alive, then we couldn’t even open our back door to go out on the deck! There would be animals everywhere, and we’d be tripping over them!” The talk lent itself to talking about Lily and the fact that she had died the night before…. We spent a while hugging and comforting each other.

Later that morning we had breakfast. While we were eating Cherish asked me to tell her a story. I told her the story of Noah, and how God loved animals so much that He had a plan to rescue them from the Flood. Talking about God’s love for animals comforted her.

Cherish sadly said a couple of times: “I just want to see Lily again.” God gave me an idea. I pulled out a photo album that had a lot of pictures of Lily in it. I let her choose her favorite picture, and I put it in a little photo album she already had. Now, she can “see” Lily anytime she wants to.

Cherish is doing surprisingly well. Thank You, Lord!

At the same time, my heart aches for my in-laws who have experienced the loss in a harder way. I am so sorry, George and Carileen. =(