Sometimes the Message Hurts

Last week we said good bye to Daphne, my pug extraordinaire. While it was sad, it was not unexpected. In October she had turned to me and said, Mommy, a baby is coming, but I won’t be here. My time for leaving will come soon.

The message devastated me. Daphne is, and will always be, my baby girl. When she passed the message she appeared to be perfectly healthy. Not only that, she was relatively young – only nine! Pugs live to be fifteen to eighteen. So although the message struck a chord, because I didn’t want to believe it… I ignored it.

The message, however, would not be dismissed. About a week after she said this to me, my Pathways to Spirit Mediumship Development class met. During the message passage portion of the session, one of my students, Laine, a soft spoken and kind woman with an incredible gift, shared with me that she had a little girl with her who called me Mommy. She continued on to say, “The little girl is telling me you and Daphne share a special bond. The two of you communicate and she says Daphne passed you an important message recently. This little girl is urging you to listen.” I had all I could do in that moment not to break into tears.

As the months passed by, Daphne began to exhibit various symptoms – she became cranky and would snap at Seamus, she stopped jumping up on chairs, and she struggled to get around and was more lethargic. Nothing too serious, she wasn’t a puppy anymore and baby aspirin seemed to help.  It was at New Year’s we noticed a significant change.

Fortunately, we had the kids annual veterinary appointment scheduled for January. When we went in, Dr. Fischer from 5 Corners Animal Hospital examined Daphne. The symptoms didn’t seem to add up and for the most part Daphne seemed really healthy so she recommended we have more tests done and wasn’t too concerned. The tests were inconclusive, but at that point Dr. Fischer became a little more alarmed as Daphne was declining at a noticeable pace. Uncertain what was wrong, we began to treat the symptoms.

At first, the treatment showed promise… but the symptoms came back at an accelerated rate. We and the vet continued to monitor Daphne knowing it was only a matter of time. Then Daphne told Don and me It’s time. We weren’t ready but as we saw her get worse we knew we had to say good bye to our little girl.

It was the hardest thing I think Don and I have had to do as a couple. And ironically, it was about the time we conceived that we saw Daphne decline. She knew… and she’s visited to let us know she is ok. Over the weekend I woke up to find her in bed, to the point that in my grogginess I found myself petting her (as you can imagine when I came too I felt silly)! She’s come to my classes. And she continues to nuzzle with her papa helping him heal. One things is for sure, while she may be gone from the physical plane… she will never be forgotten and she will always be around!

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