Goodbye, Celebrities and Old Pals

Toward year’s end, one of the annual rituals is to share in the recall of celebrities and prominent persons who died. Not unlike any year, this one has seen the passing of some very remarkable and salient individuals who affected our times significantly.

As I go through those lists, I am reminded of one or another of the contributions, creative, artistic, profound, that these human beings shared with us. I am reminded that because of their gifts, we will share in their voices, faces, work from now on. What an additional gift we receive through the technology that offers us such reminders.

My favorites were in practically every field. And those, about whom I knew little, I am sorry now I didn’t know more. That is always the way it is with death, it leaves us wanting more of the person, of their pungent excitement of life, of their special gifts that made our lives full and touched by a spirit, impossible to define.

We were met with two losses this year whose lives had intersected ours in daily ways. They were our best friends. One had been with us for 17 years, our male dachshund. The other was an abandoned cat who came to live with us and teach us the nature of being mastered by the “Silent Miaow.” Both losses were profound, deep and painfully agonizing.

They slept with us every night. They were near us every day. We knew their needs and they met ours. They offered humor and vibrant moments to unpredictable moments. They were there first thing in the morning, sometimes in the middle of the night, and when it was time to lie together in the harmony of family.

Pia and Zach were very close friends. They mastered the dog/cat thing early on and were siblings in their own right. They kept their distance at meal time. They were there to defend one another against any unwelcome intruder. Their loyalty, shared as it was between them, expanded to include us. We knew we were safe with them, and they with us.

They are buried in our pet plot on the grounds of our country home. They lie where they had roamed. I can see their plot from the window of my library. A misty tear often nudges its way down my cheek when I look in their direction. It is happening now.

We have two pets who came along near the time of Pia’s passing and a few months before Zach’s. They were “rescue” animals, who were facing their own deaths. We were fortunate to retrieve them just in time and they have brought renewed joy and pleasure to our daily lives. I promise to tell you more about them another time.

Whoever you may have lost this year, I leave you with full sympathy. Whenever it was, however they fit into your life, it always brings a shaking to the soul and a vacancy in the heart.