Beau Will Join His Beloved Monique Shortly

Beau helping me in my home office

Dear Blog Friends,

Thank you to all of my readers and friends who e-mailed me or left comments on my blog about losing my dear cat Monique this past week. My hubby Steve and I were doubly saddened to learn just a few days later that her favorite feline buddy of nearly 15 years, Beau, has cancer and has, at most, six months until he will go to be with his beloved Monique.

Our hearts were heavy this week as we are adjusting to life without her, but we also feel it is necessary to spend as much quality time as possible with Beau now and keep a positive attitude. He is doing well and we are confident in our vet's care as she has treated our fur babies for many years and they love her. If you read all the way to the end of this looooooooooonger than usual post, you will read an amazing story about me and Beau this week that happened at home the morning of his cancer diagnosis. I will never forget it.

I was especially touched by some of the dear emails I received from clients and friends and I want to share a few of the comforting sentiments and resources in case any of you have lost a pet, or are facing the loss of one. Beau thought this was a great idea, and he asked me if I would include more photos, as if to say, "Thank you for all the love you gave us and we want to assure other humans that their pets will remember their loving care forever."

Monique and Beau birding early in the morning...

My client and e-friend Ruth Welter noticed about Monique on my blog and took the time to send me a dear e-mail with a "virtual hug." Ruth is a fabulous artist and a neat gal who lives in New York and she has three of the most adorable dogs you've ever seen, Dudley, Willow, and Orchid. She writes about them often on her blog at http://www.artfulcreations.biz/. Ruth also told me about a talented pet artist as I want to get a portrait done of my beloved fur babies. Check out http://www.abbycreekstudios.com/.

Monique and Beau were, as cats do, often napping...

Thank you to my loyal friend Mary for her sweet e-mail saying, "I'm crying with you guys Kath." And then she proceeded to remind me, in her always humorous way that has made me laugh since we were first friends on our college dorm floor way back in 1976, of her fun cat Abner, who used to sleep at the end of my bed when I went to stay with her at her parents' home. I still remember Abner well.

Mary's father was a well-respected journalist and as my writing has become increasingly published, Mary has been my great writing cheerleader, and never fails to tell me to this day, "Dad would be so proud of you, Kath and so am I." A few weeks ago, when I was going through some photos, I found some fun ones of us being silly at college and sent them to Mary as now her daughter will soon be going off to college. I hope her dear one finds as fun and funny and loyal a friend as I did in Mary, who will cheer her on during the good times, and cry with her during the trying ones, even across the miles of life. As I have heard the stories about her daughter all these years, I'm always laughing as she's her mother all over again. Life indeed, is a circle.

Monique and Beau were always together; they loved each other from day one...

More sleepy time...

Thank you too to my client and e-friend, Erin Houghton who took the time to e-mail me. She has the cutest dog, Bentley, who captures people's hearts on her new blog http://www.thepaintedgarden.net/. Erin too is a gifted artist who paints what I call "happy art" in her style of vibrant California Impressionism. She found my blog a few years ago, we began an e-mail friendship and she later hired me to write and consult for her painting business.

This weekend, Erin and I will finally meet in person as she lives just up the way in Costa Mesa, CA and I asked her to paint a sunny painting for my kitchen. I'm excited to meet her, see her little cottage garden, which was just featured in Country Sampler magazine, and to meet her beloved Bentley. I love Erin's generous spirit as she donates her art to breast cancer causes, and during the CA wildfires a couple of years ago, having only met me via my blog, she invited me and my hubby to stay at her home. How dear is that?

All tired out from too many toys...

More birding in the morning...

Steve and I were both very touched by the card we received from our vet, Dr. Betty Hall, of Canyon Creek Animal Hospital in Carlsbad, CA. http://www.canyoncreekvet.com/. She has been a wonderful vet and even took the time to look through our kitties' photo album with us this past week! She sent us a card with this kind message:

"Monique was a very special, sweet, and beautiful cat. I always enjoyed when she and Beau would come in for their checkups. She was blessed to live so long in such a wonderful and loving home."

On the new sofa cover...

I also received a nice email about Monique from my e-friend Michael. I met Michael a year and a half or so ago and when I told him about Monique when I was on the phone with him last fall for some resources, he told me a beautiful and amazing story about his beloved dog who died just over ten years ago and how he still knows she loves him. So when I thanked him last week for telling me that touching story, he also emailed me this absolutely beautiful poem about the loss of a pet, Rainbow Bridge, and I wanted to share it with you:

http://www.petloss.com/poems/maingrp/rainbowb.htm

Okay now, enough sadness about my kitties. They have brought me and Steve such joy for nearly 15 years that they would want us to celebrate their lives and move forward. Of course, as my favorite lifestyle author, Alexandra Stoddard has taught me, when things are challenging, hard, or sad, it's necessary, and good, to give yourself some TLC too. It's not selfish; it's self-sustaining to fill up your own well so you can be there to give to others because caring for and about others takes energy and focus and we need to care for our own self and spirit too, in order to live an effective life.

So, I dipped into our "Serendipity Fun Fund" and here's what Steve and I did this week to nurture ourselves while we also grieved:

Red toes and rhinestone shoes! Yes, really!

As any creative gal worth her salt with tired feet would do, I got a pedicure and put on my best heels. As all you shoe gals know, works wonders!

Steve got out our kitties' photo album and we looked through all the happy times. We had forgotten that a writer friend of mine had featured them and interviewed me a few years ago for a magazine article on conquering cat clutter!

I put Beau's fur blanket on our bed. He and Monique both love those; I think it reminds them of other cats! He has been staying close beside me on that blanket.

The day Monique passed on we immediately went to a favorite restaurant for dinner to celebrate her life. With tears in our eyes, we toasted, and then laughed as I looked around the pretty restaurant and told Steve, "Regal sort that she was, Monique would have loved this place!" He agreed.

I took the last of my lunch money, and instead bought tulips. Or as the prophet Muhammed once said, "If I had but two loaves of bread, I would sell one and buy hyacinths, for they would feed my soul." (Hey, I figured tulips would do the same thing and they were cheaper! :)

And last but certainly not least, I did what all writers, artists, and creatives have done since the beginning of time to further court their muse: I took a bubble bath in my oval soaking tub and read my new book, Spa at Home. (Well okay, maybe the ancient Romans used mineral spas or something but this was close!)

I'm off now to finish up my latest two e-books and I'm excited about the new updates my webmaster is working on for my business, and another nifty business invitation I had which I'll be announcing to you soon. But before I sign off, I want to tell you the true beautiful story of what happened with my Beau the morning of his cancer diagnosis:

Beau has always gotten up on Steve's chest while he's in bed to both wake him up in the morning or watch Steve while he is watching TV. But I can remember maybe once or twice in 15 years that he did it with me. However, on the morning before we took him to the vet, while I was in bed, reclining and writing on my computer, he got up on my chest, laid his head near my face, and looked into my eyes with a fixed gaze that I have never seen the likes of. It was an eye-lock and no matter whether I looked away, he kept staring not only at my face, but penetratingly into my eyes. He stayed that way, without moving, for 15 minutes. (I know because there's a clock on the wall.) And as I talked to him gently, he seemed to almost be trying to communicate with me, "I want you to know how much I love you, and I will never forget you, ever."

If you've lost a pet, please be comforted by this story, and the poem of Rainbow Bridge.

And then go forward to celebrate both your pet's life, and your own, in the best possible way you know how.

'Til Next Time!

Love, Kathryn
http://www.kathrynbechenink.com/