Doodle Says Goodbye

To my friends at YGS

This is not a scary ghost story but a "reaching across the veil story"

This last Friday (Nov.10) after 4 months from discovering a bad heart murmur in my dog Tinker, (aka, Doodle, Mutt Thing)

The time had come to end her suffering and extreme difficulty in breathing. As my wife and daughter had to be at work I

Spent the day holding and talking to her as the hour approached for the vet to come to the house. I held her until the

Very end as the best pal I ever had left my side. Telling her it was OK to go, she left. I sat holding her another 2 hours

Afterwards. Needless to say it was the worst 2 hours of my 58 years. I finally pulled it together enough to prepare her

For burial in the flower bed.

My wife Kim, NEVER remembers her dreams, NEVER. In 27 years together she has been able to recall maybe 2 dreams she has had. For some reason she just doesn't have dream recall.

On Sunday morning she awoke very excited and told me she had a dream of Doodle that she remembered with crystal clarity.

So much so she wondered if it was a dream even though she knew it was. In her dream she said she was looking up and saw

A cloud in the not so far distance. On the edge of the cloud was Doodle looking at her. What she remembered the most was the way she looked and behaved. Her ears were perked up, her tail was wagging and she looked so very very happy and healthy.

She would run away like she wanted Kim to follow. When Kim didn't follow she would come back to the edge and start her happy

Wagging and stuff all over again. After a few times of this she finally ran on off with tail wagging like the happiest little

Pup in the world.

Of course this was just most likely a dream built on my wife's hopes for Doodle. But we both also agree and like to think it

Was her way of letting us know she was happy and doing fine.

It is the opinion of many that those who have gone on, find it

The easiest to reach us when we sleep because it is then we are at our most relaxed and receptive to receiving information.

Can a dog do that? I don't know. I like to think its possible. I do know that love knows no boundaries.

I also am going to choose to believe that my little Mutt Thing was letting us know that she is happy and doing fine and that

Someday when I cross that veil that I will look down and see that wad of unruly hair with a wagging tail sticking out.

Never forget to love. Love is everything.

Randy