in memoriam ...
CANINE TRANSMIGRATION?
(or, do animals reincarnate?)
...you tell me
in my 40s i found myself appeasing my children who wanted a dog, our first ...
they decided on a female;
we brought home a brother and a sister - my fault.
As i sat on the floor playing with the litter, a white and
grey pup -
the runt, i'm told -
quietly climbed up into my lap and settled down.
After a while he rested his chin upon my flat-chested bosom
and as those liquid brown eyes made direct contact with my own,
i clearly heard him say, “you know i’m yours…”
And that’s how we brought home two puppies, photo on left
–
i mean, surely, we couldn’t leave the runt,
and since we’d put a request out into the Universe for a female,
it seemed only honourable to take his sister home as well


brother Bri, sister Gabi - Gabriel and Gabriella ....dog? what dog? (look closely to see Lili)
This runt puppy whom we
named Gabriel (Bri, for short)
was the most laid back being i had ever
met
He had myriad
endearing idiosyncrasies,
like preferring fresh vegetables and fruit to meat,
by consistently
choosing halved grapes over chicken chunks
which inspired much
family discussion
from Buddhists, (who gave the Lhasa Apso breed to the world)
to our own brand of vegetarianism ...
His sister,
Gabriella (Gabi, for short)
while being very protective of him, was also his antithesis;
where he was
withdrawn and watchful, her demeanour was such that
you could almost hear her saying, “c’mon, it’ll be fun!”
she was his sternest
teacher yet his most loving companion –
She kept her soft side mostly underwraps except at the end of every
walk,
when consistently she would take his leash in her teeth
and lead him the
last bit of the way into the house,
as if she needed to
make sure he wouldn’t get lost.
Well, her
exuberance cost her her life – a huge truck – a horrible accident
and that night as i
went from each family member, trying to console,
only going through the motions because i felt totally disconnected,
i was in that shaman spot that i don't usually recognize
until in hindsight -
suddenly from
nowhere i heard Gabi say,
“this was a true
accident, it wasn’t supposed to happen like this –
i am coming back to
you - watch for me”
in my state of shock disbelieving more than believing,
i nevertheless related what i'd been shown, the message to the family,
if only in hoping that delivery would offer consolation, however transient ...
the
message was soon forgotten as we got on with healing --
until after few months
passed.
when someone went online one day, and in the way of internet pixies,
a Craigslist puppy image inexplicably popped up on their screen,
which began a whole new
journey...
(the breeder said that he'd posted the ad "only 15 minutes before” we responded to it)
This Craigslist
pup, the last of a papered Lhasa Apso litter,
had fallen seriously ill at birth and treatment cost her her hair.
making her a hard sell as a bald Lhasa Apso
until
when at 4.5 months old, the famous Lhasa coat was growing back,
and the Universe posted the Craig's list picture...
something nudged us
to make an appointment and the out-of-state trip -
and of course it was a
given that Bri would come with us -
after all his was final say …
As we approached the
porch of the breeder's home,
manaical puppy yelps filled the air
through which a voice from inside spoke to us --
“Just a moment,
please - you’d think i’m killing her -
all i'm doing is clipping her nails – (pause)
i need to warn you,
she doesn’t like strangers –
i didn’t tell you
that over the phone - i was afraid you wouldn’t come."
we looked from one
to another, all thinking the same thing - oh great!
the disembodied
voice again: "okay, you can come in now.”
Ferocious barking
amped as we entered the room...
Bri walked in under
his own steam, and unaffected sat by my feet
loosely leashed, only vaguely curious by the ruckus
The source of the
noise: a fierce white creature
with random spurts of hair growth
from her eyebrows and her ear tips
the only long patches of hair anywhere on her body -
she looked like
something between a grounded bird of prey
and an over-grown albino squirrel – barking
Unpredictability energized, she fought and won freedom from her owner -
...to tear us to pieces or what? i got ready to swipe Bri up into my
arms.
But the little
white naked, fury thing didn't charge Bri, or any of us.
Instead, she went around and sniffed long and hard,
tail wagging furiously at each one of the 5 of us
and when at last
she came to Bri,
she simply and stunningly took his leash in her teeth
and headed toward the door!!
to which Bri's reaction was
well, Bri ...
he followed her lead indifferently as if to ask,
"Where've you been?"
Now i confess to
being a bona fide reincarnationist,
having experienced past life memories from an early age -
yet even still i am
always flabbergasted at such undeniable evidence:
this new pup was indeed, to
all of us and as promised, her predecessor incarnate …
i was so glad everyone else had seen her take his leash in her teeth,
for it would've been an unbelievable story without witnesses.
We named her
Lillian Gabriella (Lili for short) -
Lillian because as a pup she was a purest white
which turn the lightest of honey as she got older ...
we figure she
returned to us so fast that she forgot to pick a colour …
her papers show
that she was born only 2 weeks after the accident …
Gabriella explains itself...
Her illness
beginning this life was Spirit's way of allowing us time
for the necessary mourning of her predecessor --
moreover Lili seemed to have memory of her predecessor's crossing -
for as we brought
her home and she sat in my lap,
i noticed
immediately that she visibly cringed and ducked
when large trucks
approached then passed by ...
thunder and fireworks made her tremble as well from a condition known
as 'white shaker dog syndrome,' a clinical canine condition -
mainstream medicine can't give a cause for the behaviour,
and only treats the 'symptoms' with drugs -
IME reincarnation is the cause of this condition,
and once the sufferer understands the cause according to his/her own karma,
the 'condition' heals itself ...
... but i digress
Additionally, and
as commonly happens from lifetime to lifetime,
the fatal injury of Gabi, Lili's predecessor, apparently manifested
as extreme
sensitivity in Lili's hind legs -
in the right
circumstances, like brushing her hair
and hitting a tangle on her back legs,
she would bite, not
to break skin but to seriously warn ...
or from time to
time when she was tired or playing too hard,
a hind leg would unexpectedly buckle
as for how her Craigslist puppy picture inexplicably showed up,
i do not know, but instead smile and say:
it is exactly as
the Hopi instruct, that “we are the ones we’re
waiting for.”
or equally poignant: we are our children’s
children’s children …
Think on these
things the next time you hear someone speak about
"leaving Mother Earth to our children" because
this is what's really being said: "We leave Mother Earth to ourselves."
... Reincarnation
puts a whole new spin on everything,
doesn't it?
--NHT
©2014, 2018, 2020

editor's note: Lillian Gabriella walked-on on 8 dec 2020 -
my last words to her were: "be at peace, and don't worry - we'll see each other again"
right before and right after her monthly grooming session
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