Afternoon all, don't know if it's all the vinegar and lemon... no it's The Prettiest Star that has made me well up. Thank you Neti, I shall treasure the thought of you singing that song to your beloved dog in his troubled time.
Animals, what is it with them that lets them go straight to our hearts. I've seen people break down into tears forty and fifty years later when talking about their old dog or cat, and I don't think it's "just" that they're sad about growing old themselves, I think they genuinely miss their pal.
I'll never forget I was sitting across somebody who was paralysed on one side of the body and who could barely "put one word together" due to aphasia, and he wanted to tell me about his old dog. I asked supportive questions and when I asked what breed he couldn't think of the word or even the words to describe it so I asked how big was the dog. He held ONE hand (the other side paralysed, remember) in the air over the table and I said "Golden Retriever!" and he broke down crying with happiness that I had been able to guess. But the odd thing is that I WASN'T GUESSING: I just knew, that second when he indicated the dog's height with his ONE hand in the air. Wanna know what's even more odd? Where he held his hand wasn't Golden Retriever height AT ALL, regardless of whether you were to measure the distance between the floor and his hand or the table and his hand. It wasn't correct at all. And yet I just knew. I think we communicate with animals the same way that man and I were able to communicate in that moment, only, with animals it happens easier cos we're closer to each other's bodies as well.