In the summer of 2009 we adopted a beautiful five-year-old yellow lab named Suzy. She was a feisty sweetheart who bounded (literally) into our lives with exuberance and joy. So much energy! I tried taking her for walks but found that I just couldn't control her. So my husband and I took her to a six-week training class at the local pet store.

The first commands we learned were "sit" and "stay." Then we worked our way up to "drop it," "leave it," and "wait." After that, we graduated to practice-walking with Suzy around the store. I thought the command for keeping the dog beside me would be "heel." But instead, our trainer used the word "close" as in "stay close beside me."

The next weeks as I was taking Suzy for her daily walks, I found myself saying the command many, many times. It almost became a chant. If she pulled on the leash too much, or tried to stray, I would give the command: Close, close, stay close, stay close. It had a nice rhythm to it! If she got sidetracked too long by a certain clump of grass, I would chant again: Stay close, close, stay close.

After several days of this, the command Stay Close was so ingrained in me that I was hearing it in my sleep and in my dreams! And one day, when I was telling Suzy to stay close, I had the distinct impression that Spirit was telling ME to stay close as well. Stay close to Spirit, keep myself grounded in Spirit’s wisdom by keeping my thoughts and actions aligned with what I know to be true, and by staying connected to the people who love me without measure, as I loved Suzy.

In November of 2018, we said good-bye to Suzy as she made her transition back Home. By then, she was completely blind and mostly deaf. It had been difficult to watch her aging during that last year as arthritis in her hips made it increasingly harder for her to accompany me on our walks.

The grief I felt in the months following that tearful farewell was draining, to say the least. I managed my sorrow by journaling, and taking extra care of my body, and by EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) Tapping which didn’t take away the grief, but lessened its intensity and helped me to not get stuck in it.

Another thing I did to help me through the grieving was to make a new SoulCollage® card for Suzy. I felt the need to give image to a new relationship that I sensed was forming, now that her body is gone and only her spirit remains with us. I cut out the image of Suzy from a photo of her when she’d first come to us. The other images I already had in my stash and they seemed to beg me to join Suzy on the card!

This card now sits in a prominent place in our upstairs hallway where I see it and touch it every time I go into and out of our bedroom. It is comforting to me in a most visceral way. Suzy’s energy seems to beam into my heart right off of that card, and I allow myself to continually be reminded of her presence and of all the love she gave us, as well as how much she taught me about enjoying life.

Sometimes I can almost hear her sweet spirit whispering to mine, “Stay close, Anne Marie, stay close.”

Anne Marie Bennett is a SoulCollage® Facilitator / Trainer, published author, website goddess, and two-time cancer survivor who was mentored directly by Seena Frost. In 2005, she fell in love with SoulCollage® and was inspired to use her professional experience along with web technology as a means to serve the world by putting SoulCollage® "out there" in a really big way with KaleidoSoul. Anne Marie lives in eastern Massachusetts with her middle-aged husband and two adolescent felines who keep them hopping. Anne Marie’s books about SoulCollage® are available here.

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Dear Soul Songs Friends,

I am convinced that our Life Master Teachers come disguised as Pets.These lyrics describe how pets fulfill the human need to love and be loved::

you better find somebody to love 

Our refrigerator door displays so many dog cartoons that sometimes it’s hard to locate the handle! One Harry Bliss cartoon shows a man seated on an examining table. The doctor holds a dog out to the man and says, “You won’t find a more effective antidepressant.”

Ever since our ancestors discovered the lifesaving benefits of sleeping with dogs on frigid nights, humans have turned for warmth and comfort to the unconditional love of animals. Is it any wonder that pet adoptions have soared during the pandemic? Initial concerns about animals being returned to shelters have not held true. Experts suggest the pandemic has shifted attitudes about adopting pets. The animal welfare movement’s diligent work to educate and support new owners is resulting in a record number of adopted pets going to “forever” homes.

I have only lived with three pets in my life. Each taught me invaluable life lessons. Laddie was a golden cocker spaniel who showed up shivering on a rainy night when I was nine. A few days later, Laddie was gone. According to my mother, he went to live in a “quieter” home, one unlike ours with three squabbling siblings. (It took years to let go of my guilt! And it wasn’t the first time I sensed a parent was not sharing the whole story. But that’s another story.) Despite his brief stay, Laddie gave me my first taste of the wondrous joy of loving a pet.

Thirty-three years later came General Jessmeister Schwarzkopf, a Shetland Sheepdog. He looked like a smaller version of Lassie. Jess was named for General Norman Schwarzkopf, Commander of U.S. troops during the Gulf War, who had assured families that he would see their loved ones home safely. I took him at his word and thankfully my 21 -year-old warrior Matthew returned. Jess carried out his Sheepdog mission, herding all family members, barking wildly at any sign of intruders/guests, and shedding his long coat all over the house! On his tenth birthday, our daughter Lauren and I held Jess as he peacefully crossed the Rainbow Bridge. That final sacred time with Jess allowed me to be fully present a few months later when my mom’s life energy left her body.

And now there is Sheena, Queena the Jungle, our Bundle of Joy. Early in 2012, I was depleted from the previous year’s emotional rollercoaster and demanding workload. Sheena came to me in a happy dream. She was frolicking like a lamb in a field of yellow flowers. I am so grateful I trusted my intuition and went on a quest to find her, despite my husband Harry’s initial resistance. (Guess who now serves as her personal trainer, walker, groomer, chief cuddler, and chef? Guess who now brings her breakfast in bed at 6:00 a.m. sharp?)

Part of the Toy Group, Havanese are not working, herding, or sporting dogs—unless you consider cuddling to be work or sport. A few years ago, our very intuitive friend Oksana met Sheena. She told us that Sheena is the “true leader” of our home and that we need to follow her example. Though Harry and I did some eye-rolling, Oksana’s insight has proven correct.

Sheena is an excellent communicator. She knows how to ask for what she needs and she enjoys offering affection generously. During the past year’s 24/7 enforced togetherness due to the pandemic, there were moments when Harry and I were about to get on each other’s last nerve. Sheena’s gentle, sweet nature showed us another way to behave. Sheena has made tolerable the pandemic’s endless days of isolation and tedium. Each day, Sheena lifts our spirits convening multiple cuddle sessions on the Love Couch. Somehow our (mostly my) crabbiness magically disappears. I stop ‘majoring in the minors.’ Instead we delight in these precious moments when our warm pup wriggles with pleasure as she receives cuddles from her people.

Sheena is constantly by my side. Right now she’s sleeping on my desk in her soft green cushion as I write. One glance at her and I feel my blood pressure drop and my breathing steady. Such good medicine for the soul!

For nearly nine years, Sheena has taught me the Master Life Class on Giving and Receiving Unconditional Love. She inhabits every moment fully, serenely. Sheena reveals the fallacy of my constrictive human thoughts. You know—the ones about all the conditions I imagine I must meet in order to receive love. Ever have those? Sheena showers me with unconditional love.

I am a better, happier person because I am Sheena’s student!

Check your SoulCollage® deck for cards celebrating your Life Master Teachers, aka your pets, past and present.

Take out your journal and record your reflections:

If you do not currently have a pet, I invite you to imagine the benefits one might bring in these times of loneliness and isolation. Consider giving a pet a forever home.

If you have never had a pet, I invite you to set aside your objections and practical considerations. Instead, I invite you to open your mind and heart and imagine the potential feeling of giving and receiving unconditional love with a pet. Then I invite you to make a card about the possible gifts you and your future pet might exchange.

I would love to hear your Pet stories! You may contact me here.

Since 2007, Marti Beddoe has been a SoulCollage® Facilitator and meditation teacher in the Kriya Yoga lineage. She is Founder of Designs for Peace, a service offering practices to support lives of Meaning, Joy, and Beauty. Her The Beauty Way of… essays consider the mysterious Beauty of various Neters. You may subscribe at the bottom of this page. You'll receive a fr*ee Harmony Self-Assessment.

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