This marvelous painting by Peter Teekamp (www.peterteekamp.com )
depicts a very cosmic Shanti with her two previous incarnations in the
background, Aiko, the Akita on the left and Raya, the
German Shepherd-Coyote on the right. This painting will be the "theme
photo" of this website.
Raphaelle & Michael's Website: http://www.michaeltamura.com
May 22, 2011
Definitions:
"R" refers to my female human companion, Raphaelle Tamura
"M" refers to my male human companion, Michael J Tamura
B refers to my other very special caretaker, whose name we will keep anonymous
What this blog is all about: I am a dog who has reincarnated THREE times to be with my present "Human Companion" in her one lifetime. I am writing from my present lifetime as Shanti, a Great Pyrenees dog. We (my human master/companion and I) came together, originally in a far distant time (Egypt) and have been growing side by side, off and on, as souls, ever since. I will discuss this distant lifetime in a future blog, I promise. In each blog you will get a little taste of my present lifetime plus lots of stories about what it is like to be a dog who has reincarnated - and remembers. I am not here to "prove" reincarnation, especially in regards to animals, rather, I am here to perhaps open your mind to consider the idea and at the same time, enjoy my unique, fun and, to me, TRUE story. You don't have to believe to enjoy this blog, though!
Please make a note of this: I started writing this blog on April 7th, 2011 and it was finished at another date. Sometimes it takes R some time to find the time to work with me, but only because she is running three businesses, a household and so much more, as you will find out!
Hello to All My Special Friends,
Hi everyone, it's me, your four-legged friend, Shanti, the Great Pyreness Elder Dog. I call myself "elder" now because last November (the 19th to be exact) I reached the "average life span" age of 8 years, that most of my breed is able to live to. I have no intentions of "leaving" yet, but certainly I feel a little bit older, now, at least in the body. I will always be "young at heart" but sometimes I still love to just have puppy-ish fun like racing around the house with all my power in a no-holds-barred "joy run" that makes me almost unstoppable -- so many people would never guess my age. In fact, I STILL turn the heads of all the boy-doggies in the neighborhood, though I don't mean to brag about this (hee hee!)
Okay so back to the business at hand: First -- OH, MY, it has been many long months since I have come here to my blogsite to tell stories and share my insights with you. This time is precious in the life a dog, since our life-span is so much shorter than that of humans. I have much to tell you!
As you know, from my last blog, a major life-change for me - and my family - happened, that of my beautiful little pack-mate, Magic the tuxedo cat, passing over to the world of spirit along with my special doggie girl-friend, Chelsea. A lot of life has passed under the bridge since then, so I have a lot to share with all of you. If you are new to this blog, be sure you read some of the others, because this is a TRUE story that keeps progressing. The first two blogs explain the depth and purpose of this blog as well as some wonderful and very interesting stories from yours truly. Since animal reincarnation is the theme of this blog, you might get a lot out of reading my previous writings, too, especially the last one, which was written some months after Magic, my pack-mate's passing.
Before I start, though, I'd like to share some photographs with you. Our seasons have been trying to change from winter to spring. Up here in the mountain-lands, spring can hang precariously in balance with wintertime -- sometimes we will have winter up here, then one day, it is summer and NO spring at all! This year it has been trying to be spring for months after a long hard winter of way too much snow (you might check R's FaceBook site for all the photos she shared about this winter. A few of them are here, but there are LOTS on her FB site. Here is the link for it: http://www.facebook.com/raphaelle.tamura Be sure to "Friend" her so you can look at the photos. I'm in a BUNCH of them!) Only a few of these photos are the same as the ones on FaceBook. I'll label each one, too. I hope you like these. Also, there will be a few more throughout this blog, as is my tradition (my human companion, "R" is what some people call, a "shutterbug" so she loves it that she can now share her photos with her friends!) Here we go:
Okay, so here I am in front of a very tall pile of snow. This photograph was taken in March. We have no photos of Christmas time this year (you'll find out why when you read this blog) We had eleven days of snow in Mt. Shasta in March, very unusual. Some say this
kind of a storm is indicative of the "Earth Changes" happening right now, which I am sure is true. I love the snow, so of course, I am very happy here. I hope you like this photo.
R, my human companion, thinks I look beautiful in it.
I like nothing better than to snuggle up and sleep during the cold nights. Here I'm being a "princess dog" - that is what I am when I am with M & R. When I am with "B" I get to be
the farm dog my genetics say I am. Either way I am one very happy dog.
Photo taken March 2011
Photo taken March 2011
Here is a wild "lenticular" cloud to the right of Mount Shasta,
which is slightly hidden behind the one tall tree..
R took this photo when she was walking me. It's an amazing
cloud formation that looks like a UFO. We have more recent examples of
this phenomena. Check it out!
This lenticular cloud happened the second weekend of May.
It almost looks like a UFO is about to fly right out of it!
There are people here in this area who believe they ARE UFOs
disguised as clouds. This photo makes for a very convincing case.
Photo by my human companion, R. Tamura
(in fact, ALL the photos in this lineup were taken by her.)
2011
This incredible cloud was photographed from the front of
the local grocery store, Ray's (thus the parking lot in the foreground.)
R was very busy this day otherwise she would have driven to somewhere the
cloud could be featured more nicely in a photograph. In spite of the parking lot, though, this is quite anexquisite display of lenticular clouds. You can see the edge of Mt. Shasta to the right of these clouds. Photo taken May 2011
Here is out little Japanese maple all covered in icicles
in early May, 2011. Brrrr, it must be cold to be a tree in the winter
here! See the miracle change in this tree in the next photo:
This picture was taken from the other side of the tree. As you see, the leaves
have finally bloomed and looking gorgeous. Believe it or not, this photo was taken less than
three weeks after the one before. Mother Nature is a truly amazing artist!
Just to show you how much snow we had, here is M and me going out the front
door of our house. During the "big storm" in March of this year, in some places,
the snow was taller than me, times five!
On the photo above this one to the left is this spot, above,
where I am checking out the daffodils only from the opposit side
(R's camera is facing toward the house instead of away.)
Spring finally came in, about five weeks after the monster storm
I LOVE the winter, I was MADE for it, but I do love the
sweetness of spring, too. My human companions seem to like spring
better, though. BTW, I am wearing my favorite scarf in this photo.
I was still grieving a bit when I shared the last blog with you, but as I promised in the last blog, I really am doing well, now. Yes, I miss Magic very much, and she comes into my dreams often, but life has gone on for me, and actually, it's pretty good! My human companion, R, has also had a number of dreams about Magic over all these months. She tells me that she has seen Magic along with her old cat-boy friend "Simon" who lived with us for a while when we lived in Colorado. He, too must be in the world of Spirit, too, because R has seem them together and "hanging out" in the Spirit planes. Once, R dreamed that Magic was in a very special cat place in Heaven that was allowing her to rest. R visited her to see if she was ready to "come back." Magic told her, "No," but that she was happy and doing well. That was in about January of this new year, 2011. Magic was in an outdoor setting, under a porch watching the wildlife in the area, just like she did when she lived with us, here. Then, R started seeing Magic more often in her dreams as well as seeing Magic waking life (in Spirit,) too. Then the day came when Magic told R in a dream that she is getting ready to come back. I knew that because Magic told me this before she left her life as "Magic" that she wouldn't take too long to return, just like I did after I died as Aiko then came back as Shanti. R is very excited about this as she really would like to have another cat in the house, especially if it is Magic. Me too!
By the way, a little sidenote: Another transition has happened! A special friend of R & M had a cat named "Geronimo" who, as of this week (of April 7, 2011,) is eighteen and a half years old. Back during the time of Magic's passing, Geronimo was at the Spiritual Gateway where animals and people "cross over" - Geronimo was there in Spirit helping Magic on her "passing over" day. Well, I overheard R & M talking today and found out that Geronimo, who was a large handsome orange tabby, passed over on April 5, 20111. R was wondering why Magic didn't hurry up and get another body yet, but now she knows, that this one special friend, Geronimo, who Magic never met "in the body" but knew in Spirit - had to pass over first, so Magic could meet him at the Gateway, returning the favor when he did her on the day she died. I feel like they will spend some time together, then Magic plans on coming back to us fairly soon. I honor the passing of this wonderful boy-cat, Geronimo, who I never met, but heard many times about, because R & M visit with his human, Lisa F., each year in Hawaii and knew Geronimo for fifteen years. Lisa F is "Lisa French" and the founder and director of the Clairvoyant Training Center of Hawaii where she trains beginning psychics. Some even learn to communicate with animals. Here is her website in case you want to find out more about it: http://www.clairvoyanthawaii.com/
Meanwhile, around R's birthday - and mine, too, because both of our birthdays are in November, R started seeing Magic more and more in her dreams but it wasn't until January, as I said, that Magic started telling her she indeed was "getting ready" to return. She wants to come back to M & R as a young kitten if that is possible. R had become interested in the breed of cat called "Tonkinese" - an oriental-style of cat. This is a new breed cat, but is a mixture of two other breeds, a Siamese and a Burmese. These cats have very similar traits to the type of cat Magic was, and I believe that Magic is guiding R to be interested in this breed of cats because that is the type of cat she hopes to be this new lifetime, when she is ready to come in. In Magic's previous life before she met R & M, as Magic, she had been a breed-cat called Abyssinian, also an "oriental"-style cat. I told this story of how she told R & M about her most recent lifetime (it's really a great story) in one of the other blogs , so if you are reading these blogs, you know about this. Magic seems to like being in the "oriental" strain of kitty-bodies right now. I guess that is like humans, too, when they incarnate. Some humans will go from one race to another from one lifetime to another, but some will stay in a series of lifetimes in the same race - and even the same family of people they have incarnated with before, to finish certain kinds of lessons and karma to help their soul grow. Magic seems to like working on her personal power in her lifetimes but also in how to get along with others, something that wasn't always here strong suit in this most recently lifetime, at least not until she became quite old, then she finally learned how to do it. It was great for me to watch! In the Abyssinian lifetime, Magic died due to an unexpected phenomenon of nature (a wildfire.) Because of this, she was very cautious around fire and also respected nature greatly.
Anyhow, R started researching this breed of cats, and a funny thing happened: Every time she went online to check out breeders of this kind of cat, she would end up on the same breeder's site, over and over again. Believe me when I say, there are LOTS of people who raise this breed of cats all over the U.S., but her computer kept tricking her into looking into one particular one. It wasn't that the breeder did anything fancy or tricky with her website. R knows when she is being guided so she contacted the breeder. The woman, L.H. now knows R is ready for a female Tonkinese as well as, possibly a second one, maybe a male or possibly maybe another female.
One of this breeder's kittens was pregnant, but it turned out to be a boy and only one kitten. R knew this was not Magic. So now she is waiting for the news of another two of this woman's females who is presently pregnant. If she has several kittens, then she'll see if Magic is amongst them. R is very excited about this and so am I! I think about this especially when I have to be put into the laundry room when R & M are conducting their phone classes (they do this because I LOVE to bark when they are on the phone, making too much of a racket for them to work.) I almost can't help myself when this happens, but I agree, it is wise to put me somewhere comfortable where I can bark and not bother anyone. I get lonely sometimes without Magic in there with me. When R did this - putting me in the laundry room - when Magic was still alive, R would bring Magic to me to keep me company for the two hours while we were in there. I really miss this as these were the times when Magic would sit down on the floor, right next to me and "hang out" until we were both let out. R caught us a few time sitting side-by-side so close that our fur was touching. She always smiled when she saw this. But it took an extra-special moment for this to happen because Magic really loved her own "space" and didn't usually like me to cuddle up too close to her. What a special memory.
I noticed that R has been preparing the house for the eventual arrival of the two new kittens. She has also been researching good names for them, too. "Magic" was such a powerful name, they want to make sure that on a life following a "magical" one, the names will give her merit for her wisdom and knowledge.
Also, the other day R purchased a lavendar-colored kitty bed that would certainly fit even two adults cats and of course it will fit two small kittens, too. It is on the counter in the laundry room by a window overlooking a small pond. R is getting a new window shade for that window, too, so it can be opened (the shade opener is broken, so the shade is always down.) I know oriental-style kitties love high places and that would put them a little out of my reach, too, at least until they get used to me (and visa versa) when they arrive. We are hopeful that these two kitties will love me so much they will enjoy me from the beginning of their lives and not be afraid of me or have to "bop" me in the nose like Magic had to because of how "too big" I made myself around her sometimes. I was so well trained by Magic, I now know how to be around a fussy, sensitive, bossy kitty, but I also hope these two won't be as demanding. Magic taught me more about how to respect the "space" of another, smaller creature living in a house with humans. When I go to B's house (my special caretaker when R & M are away) there are several cats there who LOVE me and rub up against me and even come up to me, under my chin and cuddle me there. I love, love, love this and dearly hope these two little ones will do this with me. So I am dreaming with R, especially, about the eventual arrival of these two sweet babies. We'll let you know when they arrive. It could be in the next few months!
The eventual arrival of two new kittens is the biggest news I have that pertains to me, anyway. But much more has happened, since almost a year in the life of a dog is rich and seemingly much longer to us than a year is to humans. We have precious little time compared to humans in a life, but then again, we don't perceive time the way humans do, then eight years of life is so much more FULL of present happenings and simply living ad the enjoyment of living.
As you might recall, I wrote in my last blog about how my packmate, Magic, died a just days before R's mom did. This was a big time for all of us, for sure. Right after R & M got back from the the celebration of R's mom's life (her funeral) - they stayed for a few days then left to enjoy a beautiful trip to Hawaii. They needed the vacation, but I could tell R wanted me to be with her, and I really wished I could come. I have heard a rumor, though, that it is hard to bring pets to Hawaii, so they had to go without me. They had a wonderful trip, from what I heard, except on the second-to-the last day there, R ended up in the hospital with something she called "vertigo." She has never had this before, at least not in that extreme severity. She was still "spinning" a bit when she got home, but I stayed right with her to help her re-find her grounding. We animal companions are usually pretty good at helping our humans find the connection between themselves and the earth. Death affects humans very deeply, and I saw that this vertigo thing might have been a manifestation of her grieving process, though outwardly, she seemed just fine.
Also, more recently, R had one other episode of this vertigo, but she was traveling again when it happened and she really hopes it never happens again, as she says it pretty much incompacitates her. Fortunately it only seems to last a day or so, but being "dizzy" for a blonde is not something that makes her laugh - though I have to admit, it is kind of funny when you think about it.
I wrote my last blog in November, just days before R's and my birthdays (well, actually, I took a lot of time to write that one so it was finally finished and published in November.) There were quite a few unexpected dramas that followed that posting in and around my little human family. I guess this was the time for it, and it went on and on. Remember, during the year of 2010, R & M had 12 people and one beloved little cat in their lives transition on to the world of spirit. During the beginning of December, they were hoping for a joyous Christmas season as even though they know very well how to handle things when a person (or cat) dies, they were a bit worn out from the sheer volume of how many people died, not to mention Magic, of course.
I looked forward to December because that is when my human companions decorate their house with pretty lights, buy and put out gayly colored packages,including presents for me, cook good food (ah, the glorious smells!) and friends visiting -that's one of my favorite things. They also put up a "pretend tree" that is beautifully decorated with ornaments and thousands of lights. However, things did not go as planned this very challenging year.
On December 13th, M, the "alpha" male human of our household, and the one I love the VERY best of all, had something they called a "heart attack." He had one of these a number of years ago, which I remember quite well, because I was home when this happened. Back on July 11, 2006 we were having a perfectly wonderful morning, R & me, that is. We had gotten up together, she fed me and we walked. M often stays up later than R, so he slept in a little. R & I had time to take a walk, fortunately for me, that morning. When we got back, M was just getting out of bed and made a comment about how incredible he felt. I was always pretty close by because M gives the best of the best of the best "rubs and loves" - no one can pet me the way he can! R wished him good morning, then suddenly, I saw great alarm on the face of R. She ran into the bedroom and kept saying, "Are you okay, honey? What's wrong? Are you having a heart attack?" When she said those words, "heart attack" I felt a big stab in my own heart and I started to pace around and tried to push my nose onto M to try to make him feel better. Something was TERRIBLY wrong, I could smell it!
Now M has his own way of doing things and taking care of himself. He is not one for hospitals and he doesn't like taking medicines much. But as he was going through what clearly to me was excruciating pain, I heard R begging him "Please can I take you to the hospital?" and "Should I call an ambulance?" But Michael was adamant for her not to take him to any hospital. Magic was alive then, too, and she started racing around and acting really worried and a little crazy. We animals KNOW when something is wrong with out human friends, it's our JOB to know this!
M begged R to go get us under better control for the time being and he insisted she not call "911" - a human term meaning "calling in professional help." I can understand why M felt that way -- whenever I go to the vet's I pull and tug my way to the door hoping R will just take me back home. I don't like hospitals either! This was a very scary time, back in 2006, for our whole family. I won't go into all the details right now about that 2006 incident, except that after four hours of R giving M a healing while literally holding Magic and me down on the ground so we wouldn't get in M's way, M finally started feeling better and allowed R to take him to a hospital. I found out later that when he arrived at the hospital - and he and R WALKED IN together, the nurses couldn't tell which one was in trouble! R was worn out for those hours of giving healing and worrying about M. The other thing is, once he was checked into the hospital, he was STILL having a heart attack. It was quite an ordeal for both of them, back then. There are many more details to this incident - so many, so that M is now writing about this one and the more current one that happened in December, in a new book he is writing that has the working title of "Journey Into the Heart of Wisdom." So I won't reveal any more of the older story here. Suffice it to say, he survived, and in a few days he was back home again to celebrate his fifty-third birthday and R & M's 15th wedding anniversary. In that incident everyone was so relieved and Michael started a new journey of healing for himself then.
Imagine everyone's surprise, then, when December 13th (2010) rolled around, four and a half years after M's first heart incident, he had another one. I had just come back from being at B's place for a week and a half while R & M went to L.A. to give a seminar event. They drove down in two cars since R needed to drive back while Michael finished what they call "non-income-producing" work. This work consisted of, for M, being interviewed on a public television show called "Bridging Heaven & Earth" (http://www.heaventoearth.com/) which is filmed in Santa Barbara, CA, not far from Los Angeles and attending the annual fundraiser/Christmas party for the "Merve Griffin Beaumont Village" which is a loving and healing place created by R & M's favorite Charity, ChildHelp, for abused and neglected kids. ChildHelp was founded by their dear friends, Sara O'Meara and Yvonne Fedderson and has been in existence for 53 years. R wanted to go to this, but never likes to be away from the business too long as it takes a lot of time and care to keep it going. That's why they brought her car on the L.A. trip this time, so she could come home independently and have me come home, too. I love being at B's house with all the dogs, horses, miniature burros and fabulous people, but R doesn't like me to be gone too long because she thinks I start to forget who my "real" people are. She's silly that way! I have two homes and have learned to "be" wherever I am and I NEVER forget the other one. I am told this is quite an accomplishment for a dog, since mostly dogs either live alone or in ONE pack, not more than one, like I do.
So B brought me home on the morning of December 13th, and much like the first incident, R was just finishing her "shower routine" - that is, she was curling her wash-and-dried hair and was chatting on the phone with a friend at the same time, when a phone call came in on the "homeline" - R always kept the wireless "home phone" in the bathroom with her when M was away "just in case of an emergency." Boy is she ever glad she did, that day. The home phone rang so R hastily ended her conversation with her friend. When she picked up she knew it was M, since her phone has caller I.D. "Hi sweetie," I heard her say, cheerfully from the hallway where I was relaxing and watching "B" work. But the second she heard him talking, she knew he was in trouble. I couldn't hear the whole conversation because I wasn't in the room with her, but she came running out through the bedroom to the hallway with the phone in her hand where I was, and I could "see" by her body language something was terribly wrong. "B" was in the house, starting her cleaning, something she does for R and M besides taking care of me. She called "B" by name and she came running. "What is it?" she asked.
I heard R say, with an upset tone in her voice, "This is M on the phone, I think he's having a heart attack," she said. "He can't remember how to take his Nitro and neither do I - it's been four and a half years since his last heart attack and he says, in spite of my replacing the nitro a couple of times after running it through the washing machine, the label is rubbed off so he can't read it."
B is not only very wise in the matters of life's little secrets and care-taking, but her husband had also, more recently, had a heart attack and I could see that R was hoping she knew how to "do" the Nitro, something I am presuming is for sick hearts.
B did know. "Take one under the tongue, you'll feel a little spark. If that doesn't seem to do it, then take another one in a few minutes."
In the background there was silence (R had M on speaker phone by now, so I could hear.)
A moment later, I heard him say, "It's not doing any good."
As soon as he said that I saw R and B look at each other and they both said, at the very same time, "Michael, call 911, NOW, don't delay this time!"
Then R finished with, " Call us back as soon as you have done it."
Michael agreed, and hung up the phone. He never got a chance to tell them where he was or anything. I could see the worried looks on both R and B's faces. About five minutes later, he called back. Apparently when he called "911" the operator did not know his location by some "cell phone triangulation" magic, like what is portrayed on all the tv cop shows. She had demanded he get an address of where he was. Heck, he didn't even know what TOWN he was in! When he did call, he filled us all in with the details. He voice was breathless and he sounded kind of "distant" to me, like he was out of his body, which he was.
He said he had started with a wonderful morning - he had intended on driving home from the Merv Griffin Beaumont village, but since it is a very long distance (well over six hundred miles) he drove part of the way that first day then stayed the night in the city of Patterson, CA at a roadside motel. When he awoke that morning, he had a nice time to exercise in the motel's small spa, took a shower, loaded up his overnight bag hopped in his car and started home. A short while into his drive, while going 70 MPH on Hwy. 5 going north, his heart attack hit. This time he knew what it was, so without hesitation, he pulled off at the next ramp while struggling to stay conscious. There wasn't much where he pulled off, a gas station, a mini-mart and a Denny's restaurant. He opted for Denny's but was so ill, he just got out of his car and laid down on the tiny grassy area in front of his car and called R.
What happened after that was in some ways sad, but so true in the way things are there "out in the world" these days, from what I hear -- when the "911" operator demanded that M get an address of where he was. He had to get up from his grassy spot and approach a group of twelve people who were loitering around in front of the restaurant. He was up holding his phone and told everyone he was in an "emergency" and please, it would be helpful if someone could tell him what town he was in. He felt invisible because no one would answer him at first. Finally someone yelled, "Lathrop," thus jogging his memory that he had seen the "Lathrop" exit sign when he pulled off. But the operator wanted more and no one standing around the front of the restaurant seemed like they wanted to help. He later told "R" that he knew, now, what homeless people must feel like when they are trying to get help. He felt invisible, unseen. He went inside the restaurant. Then, after having to be quite insistent with the cashier, was he able to get an address for where he was. The story, written in M's wonderful fashion, in full, can be found here: http://www.michaeltamura.com/a_journey_into_the_heart_of_wisdom.pdf . R feels that though M might have felt like he was asking people loudly, she suspected it was only loud to him since he was in a different state of mind, something she calls an "alternate awareness zone," where everything is distorted and loud and kind of "unreal" for the person going through such a trauma like this. If this was the case for Michael then that is why people were not paying attention and/or could not hear him (she has a tendency to think the best of people and truly hopes this was the case.) M never said to anyone, "I'm having a heart attack," - otherwise, she was sure, someone would have acted quickly. At any rate, I am sure the hosts, manager and customers milling about in that restaurant were more than surprised when an ambulance came right inside of their restaurant, rolling in a gurney, taking M away from that place.
He had quite a journey, so if you skipped over looking at the link above, and if you are one who has not read it yet, you might just want to. It's okay, though, to read my whole blog first, of course. I'd like you to hear "my side" of the story. Whenever it is you do read M's account of what happened, it will give you a chance to see what a wonderful human "alpha" I live with and who I am honored to be the happy canine companion to. He is my favorite human in the world, and I am my HAPPIEST when he is on the floor with me, rubbing my back and belly or just "hanging out" with me. I am so glad he survived, and is okay again, I cannot tell you HOW glad I am! Here are some wonderful "snuggle" photos of the two of us, just to lighten up this story a little.:
Here is M and M in our favorite "floor snuggle" position.
As I said, he gives the BEST belly rubs and he is
my #1 human person in the WHOLE world,
hands down. I think I am his #1 canine, too, in fact,
I'm SURE I am!
This one is on R's FaceBook site, but I thought I would include it here since
I am expressing my love for M with my face, too. We dogs really
do have facial expressions! See how my ears are all
"squiggled up" and my eyes closed in a sort of intense inner-
love-sharing? I do this for ALL my favorite people, but it rarely
gets captured on film. I LOVED this snuggle moment because it
happened AFTER Michael came home and started to heal from his
second "heart adjustment."
Okay, so what happened next was, suddenly a lot of activity was happening in the house. R called her assistant and put her on "alert" about what happened and told her to close up the office for a day and to go home and pack an overnight bag. She would be driving down to Stockton, California, that day, to get to the hospital where M eventually ended up after a stop in a smaller hospital in Manteca. He was "bussed" via ambulance to St. Joseph's hospital in Stockton, over an hour away from Lathrop. This was still five hours away from where we live, so you know what that meant for me. I wanted to go with her SO much to see my beloved M, but I knew the drill by now. I would be sent back with B for a few more days. R came down on the floor to me when she was ready to leave and promised me she would be back with M. I was glad to hear this, but I really wanted to go. "Sorry, sweetie," she said, looking sadly into my eyes. No dogs allowed where I'm going. I sighed, turned away and went to lay down. Later on, when B took me back to her farm, my other dog friends saw I was sad, and Mikko, who used to live with us but now lives with B, teased me into play and before long, I felt better.
Meanwhile, lots of amazing things happened between all the worry and preparations. These are outlined in M's story so I won't repeat them here, R and her assistant, "A" (Alexes) drove down, and I heard someone say that R told A, "Let's get there in a good space, I'll fall apart later." Well, as far as I know, she never did fall apart, but mostly I think that was because once R entered M's hospital room, she saw he looked "pretty good" and from that moment on, relaxed, knowing he was going to be okay. He still had to have minor surgery to insert another stent into the same artery at the back of his heart as before, so he was weak and fragile for a few days. By the next weekend he was feeling well enough to teach his advanced group. M is a metaphysical and spiritual teacher and has many students who have studied with him for a long time. He had a group of eighty or so coming that weekend to a hotel just north of San Francisco. There had been a bit of a debate as to whether he should teach a class that weekend (or not.) M's older son, who was also present at the hospital this time along with his younger brother, was absolutely against his going. His sensible elder son wanted him to go home to rest. He even got his dad's nurse and doctor to agree with him, in front of M. When was it that the children start to tell the parents what to do? I didn't see that shift coming," I heard R said at one point. However, R did not press M one way or another, and told him he make the decision. He wanted to teach as long as he had quiet breaks and he could lay down between sessions. This group was important to him and he knew they would be friendly to him, not cornering him with questions when he was on breaks and such -at least most of them wouldn't anyway. Even so, R promised to see to it that this would be taken care of.
R came up with an idea, and that was, to give an almost two-hour introduction to the weekend and also to prepare the students to hear about what happened. This gave M two hours less he had to teach plus it allowed everyone to hear what could be to them, bad news, without a big fuss and over-dramatization. This group was fabulous. Most of them respected his space, allowed him to rest on the breaks and lunch - and one of the students even volunteered to go get him his food for him so R could stay close to him on his breaks. It was a long weekend for both of them but successful. They were happy to be heading home at last.
The two of them did not arrive home until the following Monday, which was now eight days after his heart attack. Also, it was Christmastime at this point. I was SO excited to be with them again, to take long walks in the snow, since snowy season had started early this year.
Elaborate Christmas decorations, however, were not to be part of the holidays this year. R used the lovely wrapped gifts that someone had sent them as part of the decorations, and she also put up a set of colorful mini-lights on the mantle piece. As a finishing touch, she purchased two very large poinsettia plants and placed them on either side of the fireplace. It was beautiful, in spite of the fact that this year there would be no tree, no company, no rushing around shopping. They agreed it was best if the holidays were only used for rest and quiet in our household, though I did hear them shopping on the internet and they also wrapped some gifts M had already purchased for his sons and their women. As for the lights, we all decided to leave them up on the mantel piece for good, as an honoring of M surviving another intense brush with death. R turns on the lights every morning. It reminds me of how much I love both of them and my life with with them, so I'm happy they left the lights up.
At this point, I have only covered what happened in the weeks following my finally posting my last blog about Magic's passing. There is more, but I would like to start it on a fresh blog. There is another sad passing (my friend, Eddy, the Maine Coon cat who belongs to R & M's assistant, Alexe is one.) I'll tell that story and another MUCH happier story about what is happening with Magic, as spirit. I'll give you a hint: She HAS been reborn on May 16th!!! I'm so happy about this I cannot even tell you how happy. Since my last blog was so long, I thought it would be better to give you my story in smaller "bites" so I can ruminate on how I want to tell you everything.
I hope 2011 has been good for you so far. It has been for me and as of today (May 22nd, when R is finally finishing this one) - spring has almost fully arrived to Mt. Shasta, California where I live. Since I am up in the mountains, the weather can be unpredictable, but we have had some warm weather - though we did have a little snow last week, so we shall see! Yesterday it was warm, today, windy and cool. I look forward to talking to you VERY soon. Here is another very recent photo R took of some tulips she saw in the area:
Tulips, Spring 2011 is here at last!
With Much Love Always,
Shanti
(via Raphaelle)
I'm smiling at all of you. Remember I talked about how
we companion animals DO have facial expressions?
Well here is my favorite one when I want to tell you
I'm happy you're with me.
Thanks for reading my blog.
R says I am very "photogenic" whatever that means.
I am not crazy about the camera because the flash gets me
in the eyes sometimes.
My next blog will be coming soon, so watch for it -
I can't WAIT to tell you about everything that is going on
in my life. Thanks for being a part of it. XOXO
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