One evening I received a call from a friend. He said, “I’ve been meaning to call you. I need your help. Grace isn’t doing too well and I think she may be wanting to go. I’m too close to the situation and can’t get a reading on it. I need you to talk to her and ask her if she wants me to heal her or if she doesn’t want my help.” For a brief moment my heart sank as I’ve known this German Shepherd, Grace, for 7 years. Her hips and hind legs aren’t working too well and she has quite a bit of hearing loss. I took a breath and asked for some details and agreed to have a conversation with Grace the next day.
It isn’t easy for me to have a conversation like this with my friends’ animal companions. This isn’t the first friend who has asked me to check in with their animal to see if it is time. These particular animals feel like family to me as well. Imagine what it takes for someone who loves their animal so much to consciously acknowledge that the time with their animal family member is drawing to a close. That’s not to mention how difficult it must be to pick up the phone to ask for my help. Even though it’s not easy, I feel very honored to have the ability to provide information for them, and more importantly to be so trusted by them.
I felt so privileged to have had the conversation with Grace the following morning. It was such a reminder to me how loving and evolved most animals truly are. Without going into the details of the entire conversation, what stood out so much was the immense amount of love and respect that lives between Grace and my friend. Her words spoke of him as a master and holy man who she knows has very important work to do here on the planet, and that her pure gratitude and joy of being with him is indescribable. She wants him to be happy now while she’s here and after she’s gone. She reminded him that she doesn’t ever go away and that she will always be in service to him, just not from the physical.
As I shared the details of the conversation, my friend let me know that the information in the communication was accurate. In a subsequent conversation with Grace to gather more information, she gave me a timeframe for when she’d be going (the next full moon). Prior to her communicating a timeframe I heard an actual date. Unbeknownst to me, the date I'd heard coincided with the full moon.
On the night of my first conversation with Grace my friend arrived home and he and Grace looked into each other’s eyes with complete understanding of what had taken place earlier that day. Grace was so happy – the happiest she’d been in a long time!
My friend later shared with me that he felt having all the information from Grace (via myself) was a tremendous gift as it brought him to the question of “How do I want to spend these last few weeks with Grace? How do I want it to be for her?” His decision was to spend as much time as he could with her and let her do things he had stopped allowing her to do. Grace was getting longer walks than usual – not further, but longer. With Grace’s hip and leg problems she is very slow, but she does love to be out, so that’s what they did. Also, when my friend purchased a new vehicle with leather seats the year before, Grace, who usually rode in the front passenger seat, had to start sitting in the back. Not anymore…Grace was back riding shotgun! My friend said her demeanor changed and she looked proud.
I attended a party at my friend’s house a few weeks after my initial conversation with Grace. I walked in the door expecting to see Grace in the back room lying down, without energy and in pain. Much to my surprise she was up actively walking around and I didn’t see any hip or leg limitations. I wondered if I had been wrong about what she communicated to me. Did I misunderstand? Had I made it up even though my friend confirmed the accuracy of what I shared? I kept all these thoughts to myself that evening. During the party after everyone had eaten dinner my friend said, “Feed Grace anything she wants." I was a bit skeptical of doing this, but then I realized this was part of his promise to make her final days glorious. I fed her small pieces of turkey (scraps actually) until my friend grabbed a very large piece of ham and turkey and fed it to Grace. I laughed at myself as I imagined the tiny pieces of meat I was feeding her would be similar to someone feeding me one sunflower seed at a time…how ridiculous!
Later on my friend said to me, “Grace is pulling her energy back into her body. I think having everyone’s good energy here, all the love she’s getting from me and her new boyfriend is making her come alive.” I smiled as I thought how love heals and can make one come alive. My friend continued to say, “I think this is temporary though. I think it’s sort of like the last hurrah.” I had wondered the same thing as I’ve seen individuals seem so much better right before they leave their physical body. I was glad to be hearing these things from my friend and so amazed at how beautifully he’s dealing with the entire situation. Grace is such a lucky dog…actually they are both quite lucky to have each other.
The weekend after that party my friend sent me a picture of Grace and her new boyfriend lovingly gazing through the fence at each other. He told me that he was taking Grace to the groomer the next day and then would take her to her boyfriend’s house so they could be together without the separation of a fence. I was tickled to hear this and imagined Grace having her nails painted for her date.
The date was apparently enjoyed by both dogs. My friend let me know that Grace’s hips and legs were failing again, but her spirits were still up. The full moon would be within a few days. On the date that I’d been given my friend called to give me an update. He said that Grace was now sleeping a lot in addition to the hip and leg problems. His guess for when she’d go would be in about another week or so. He asked me if I new of anyone who would come to the house to assist Grace when it was time. I checked with another friend and was given the name of a place that was highly recommended. I sent my friend the name of the organization…Paws Into Grace. I was taken aback when I read the name and knew this was the perfect place to assist when the time is right for Grace and if she decides she wants assistance rather than going on her own.
Grace actually chose to remain in her physical body a few full moons more than the original communication with me. She lived those final 5+ months enjoying life to her fullest!
Here are a few take-aways to consider from Grace's story:
The power of what love can do
The openness to see beyond one's own feelings to consider what another may want
Things can shift from moment to moment
There is no “right time” or “wrong time”
What did you glean from this story?
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