Toys, untouched now, scattered across the floor. Bowl, crusty with dried, uneaten food. Leash hangs, unused — yesterday, today, tomorrow. A deathlike grip on silence fills this place that is no longer a home. The little life I fed, walked, played and cuddled with for 12 years Took a different path, a journey where life is forever snuffed.
This goodbye is the worst — the pain is excruciating, much worse than losing a human Will it ever end? This pain of losing the one thing that gives true, pure unconditional love and happiness, expecting nothing in return.
Addendum
I have lost many pets in my life, and the pain never gets easier. I grieve for each and every one of them. Right now, a good friend of mine is facing the potential loss of a beloved pet, and her pain ignites the grief I feel for each and every one of my bygone babies.
If you are not a pet person, you may not understand the horrific pain that comes with the loss of a beloved fur friend. I provide this link which may help you, as well as all pet lovers, understand why this grief is so passionate.
Remember when you were a kid and all the old people in your life said, “Back when I was a kid…”?
Back When
I swore I would never say that, but here goes – I believe my childhood was about as good as it gets and far better than that of today’s kids – for myriad reasons,
I was a child in the latter 1950s and the 1960s. Life was simple compared to life today. Phones back then had no dials or pushbuttons. They were plain, black, boxes and required you to pick up the receiver and tell an operator what number you wanted. I only used this kind of phone once, when I was 5 y/o, and it was scary talking to a black thing that talked back. Later phones evolved to have rotary dials, still black, and later into phones with pushbuttons that were available in several models.
An old TV with a monochrome kinescope on wooden table. 3d
Television sets were also smallish, usually black-framed, with rabbit ears used to fine-tune the pictures, which, of course, were in black and white. When color came along it was like mana from heaven! I’ll never forget seeing the Wizard of Oz in sparkling, dazzling color.
Play
As kids we played. We KNEW HOW to play! We played outdoors in all seasons, all weather. We played school, we played with Matchbox toys in the dirt pile behind my best friend’s house, we played Barbies, trading outfits and making up stories where our dolls were the actors. We played with jacks, and paper-dolls; we rode our bikes, and pretended they were horses. We walked everywhere and there was never a fear of being kidnapped.
On summer days, we waited in anticipation for the ice cream man. Nickels and dimes were clutched tight in grubby little hands and handed over for icy prizes. My choice was always Hidden Treasure – a plop of orange ice cream hiding a plastic figure that was basically useless except for the thrill it gave me to discover it.
Remember Fizzies? That’s a long gone treat of small disks dropped into water to create a bubbling liquid. They came in different flavors and colors and were highly coveted among the childhood gang.
We also played impromptu group games including kickball, red rover, and tag. We laughed, we argued, and we had an exhausting, fun-filled time, all designed without the interference of any adults.
Playtime Today
Lately I have had a delirious desire to play. The other day we went into an old-time toy and craft store. It was like strolling into a time warp of wonder and want where the toys, games, and puzzles called out to the child in me. What was completely missing were electronic games, phones, or today’s “toys” that are anything but.
There’s so much more to say about my childhood and the play options it is inspiring in me today. I could go on and on, regaling about other toys and games, and maybe I’ll drop a note or two along the way. And if you have any childhood play memories to share, I would love to learn about them.
You know those little plastic things you have to pull off of milk and other cartons to open them? Everytime I pull off one of those things, I get angry thinking of all the harm just that little piece of plastic can potentially do to both domestic pets and wildlife.
And then there are the myriad other plastic hazards that are part of our everyday life! I feel guilty that I do not stop using the products that present danger, but the issue is, they are everywhere! I know I cannot directly affect the huge piles of plastic-based garbage that suffocate our oceans, but I can do something about the plastic hazards that threaten my dogs.
Following are a number of hazards that arise from the use of plastic and plastic packaging.
Choking
Everytime I pull off one of those small plastic pieces on cartons of milk or juice, I think about the potential danger should one of my dogs get ahold of it.
Intestinal Blockage
An intestinal blockage is serious and can be fatal if not treated quickly. I once had a pug who ingested something that almost killed him. Fortunately, a good animal surgeon removed a pinecone from his intestines.
Chemicals
Plastic packaging often contains chemicals that can affect a pet’s hormones causing growth, development and reproductive health issues.
Entrapment
Imagine: you are out for the afternoon, and you have left your normally trustworthy dog alone in the house. You come home to find his nose had found its way into one of the holes in the plastic packaging used to hold 6-packs of your favorite beverage together. Although he is panting, both from having his breathing restricted and his anxiety of being trapped, it turns out that after lots of cuddles and a few treats, he is okay. You are lucky.
What Can You Do?
Short of forever refusing to purchase products packaged in plastic, here are a few more practical things you can do:
Look for products packaged from recyled materials or cardboard.
Use airtight containers to store foods.
Be mindful of how you dispose of plastic: cut up any packaging that can strangle or choke wildlife.
Be vigilant about the potential dangers of plastic packaging for your pets.
I had a disturbing “thing” happen the other day. Now, first, a caveat. I have a smartphone, I use it, but I really don’t like it. My digital dinosaur preference is my laptop.
The smartphone is a necessity, I admit, but when it comes to long text conversations, or other cellphone input requirements, I’m off to my laptop.
Now, a few notes about me. I have trouble keeping my fingers from “dancing” (they shake), my eyesight sucks, and I’m not one to be permanently attached to my phone. In fact, I often leave it at home or in another room and when I’m out communing with nature, it is nowhere to be found.
So, admittedly, I am in the “senior” society, which doesn’t mean I’m a technology washout, but does have some other characteristics. In my early career days, I was trained on the most advanced computer technology of that time, and I was good at it. I am still good at it as I am the computer guru in our household. I also taught business communications in college for 15 years which necessitated using and teaching students various digital tools.
But here’s the rub – I do not like using cellphones for anything long and involved. In fact, I’m not a cellphone fan in general. Tablet is about as low as I prefer to go.
Another issue here is the type of request. Prior to my recent dentist appointment, I received a request to complete a form that was sent to me via text. Right off the bat I was annoyed by this intrusion into my privacy, which became outrage when I got to the part where they wanted my photo and a picture of the front and back of my driver’s license? Huh?? No way! To make matters worse, you could not advance in the form unless you filled in all areas. Fool that I was, I didn’t just close off. Instead, my Catholic school good girl thing took over and I uploaded a photo of my dog and a random UPC code for the driver’s license. .
Okay, so the thing is, different strokes for different folks. I cannot pretend to claim I am the spokesperson for the senior crowd, but I can espouse the need to recognize that all things digital, especially things like involved medical forms, should not be distributed by text especially in this day of rampant fraudulent activity.
madmuser 