Feeling The Loss

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By Cathy Spalding
www.gentlespiritllamas.com

“Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.” We are gathered here today, family and friends, to celebrate the life of ...”

Most of us have felt the loss of someone meaningful in our lives. We have felt deep within ourselves that convoluted mix of anger, sadness, helplessness and regret, a disappointment in hopes vanished… an aloneness. Over the ages mankind has ceremoniously honored the passing of one of our own. We fully expect those closest to the loss to be upset and in need of comfort. In fact, if we judge them not to be sufficiently upset we question their stability. We fumble in our support feeling insecure in our knowledge or ability to say and do the “right” thing. Support often comes from beyond those who are intimately connected. Employers graciously give a few days off, most airlines will provide a special short notice airfare and our cities often provide police to direct traffic allowing clear passage for a funeral caravan. We have adopted the color black, have rules of burial and massive grounds set aside for that purpose… and, there is big money to be made in this business of death. There are flowers to be delivered, cards to be purchased, stamped and mailed, phone calls, food, preparations of “our lost one”… there must be a “container” of sorts – often luxurious – and of course, a marker to designate the honor within that small footage of purchased space -- the final destination of that container. The loss of one of our own is truly a time-honored ritual. It is very important and does much to help us move through these inevitable times in our lives.

When My Llama Died....

But what about our animals? My personal life has felt the recent loss of significant people and significant llamas. As I muddled through each event I came to realize my response, my heartfelt reaction to each loss, was not so much different in one from the other. The honor and ceremony surrounding my human losses were obvious. I was clearly reminded, however, that the honor and ceremony surrounding a loss in the lives of my llamas was every bit as obvious.

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