The one year anniversary of Sara’s death was the 19th. As you know from previous posts, that is the Yahrzeit in the Jewish religion, which represents the opportunity to remember and honor someone who has died.
The weather for the 19th was predicted to be rainy, so those of us who knew Sara stood in the cemetery at the beginning of the dog walk path created by the volunteers who love this place as much as we do, and talked about her for a few minutes. There were some jokes, some shared memories, and I said a few words.
Then we all reached into the box that has contained her ashes for a year now and spread them around the cemetery so she could rest with the animals she loved so much. I sprinkled her ashes on the path, on the areas around the path, the woodpile, along the treelines. I remembered walking back here with her sometimes, a cigarette dangling from her mouth, talking about a particular animal or person or just ordinary stuff that makes up average conversations. Sara could be charming, interesting, and frightening in the same sentence. Quite a talent. I remembered some of her funnier lines and how she could size up people just about instantly.
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Why we do this by matt on Mar 28, 2008. There are comments.
Running Pets Alive can be challenging. Draining. Disheartening. Even if you’re lucky enough to have someone like Kerry Clair doing all the real work. Sometimes it just seems like one big Rube Goldberg device (Sigh…those of you who don’t know what a Rube Goldberg device is — it’s a complicated machine with lots of moving parts designed to perform a simple task. Like this one from YouTube.)
Some days you get here and it seems like you’re getting your butt kicked from the second you walk in until the second you leave. There are so many animals and not enough space. Sometimes we have to choose which ones we can take, knowing the rest will probably die. Then there’s the money. We watch every penny and always seem to get blindsided by one more expense, like a $3500 electric bill. Ouch. Then there are people who mean well who insist on second guessing every decision or policy, not realizing that we have to take into consideration every animal, employee, volunteer and donor, not just their favorites. And you wouldn’t believe the minute details that we have to deal with every day. I’m a big picture guy, and some of this stuff just makes my eyes glaze over.
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Why we do this by matt on Feb 20, 2008. There are comments.
My dog Zack died today.
Zack was just eight years old and like all your dogs are to you (I am sure), he was very special to me.
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Why we do this by kerry on Jan 27, 2008. There are comments.