Reagan by Shannon / Your Momma, Shannon

Just barely 4 and my baby. You have been reunited with your sister, BJ, and your best friend SnowShoes, and you finally get to meet Amber. You were my best friend and my hurt will never end. I know you will never be alone because when you left you took my heart with you. I know you no longer hurt and can once again run and play with BJ.
I will never stop missing you baby girl.

 

by Shannon / Shannon

I received my cat Reagan in April of 1999 she was 8 months old and I was 13. My sister and I both got a cat from our aunt, Reagan was mine and BJ was Stephanie’s. After their first vet visit we were told they both had Feline Leukemia.

Our vet said that sometimes cats with that live long lives but to think about how involved we wanted to get. BJ was put to sleep January of the following year because of the cancer but Reagan seemed fine. Over the next 4 years Reagan became my best friend. I loved her and love her still, more than any animal we have ever had. She was the first pet that actually belonged to me.She began to get increasingly sick during the month of September, one month after her birthday.

She never outgrew her kitten ways although she was 4 years old, my mom always said she thought Reagan was living as much and as fast as she could because she knew she could not stay long with us, how true that turned out to be. I began to spend every minute with her that I could.

I continued to tell myself that she would get better because she was strong. She never got better. Reagan died on Wednesday, September 17, 2003, exactly one week ago today. She died quietly in my arms with my mom and sister with us. The hurt has not lessened and though people say it will I know it will never go away. Thank you Reagan for all that you taught me in your short years. My best friend just left me.
She was 4 and I was 17.

 

Reagan by Shannon Hankins / Shannon

YOU WERE HERE

As I sit in those moments of quiet,
When sadness invades me,
I know that yesterday,
You were here.

Now you are away from us,
Not knowing your future,
Or when you’ll come home, but yesterday,
You were here.

It has now been a week,
A week since you last were in the house,
An entire week since we carried you away,
To the place where we did not know your future,
But just last week,
You were here.

Another day passes;
a week ago, you were still with us,
In daily reports from the clinic,
They did not know your future,
But we could still hope, and,
You were here.

More days pass,;
A week ago you left us,
Your head cradled in our hands,
Your spirit gracefully moving upward,
But for a few hours of that day,
You were here.

Sadness invades again,
As I know that once those hours pass,
I can no longer look back,
Over the span of a familiar week’s time,
To find that comforting point when,
You were here.

More time will pass;
Sadness will not so much invade as menace,
And I will mark the days,
Saying things like,
“last month, last summer, last Halloween, last year,”
You were here.

I dread that day,
One year from now,
That first marking of the time,
That your body was no longer with us;
Though we will never forget you,
Your tangible memory fades,
The feel of your fur, your head, your back, your weight against us,
The smell and sounds of you when,
You were here.

The emptiness is beginning to fade,
To change into another reality,
One with you still playing a part,
But a role of ethereal presence rather than physical comfort we crave;
Your memory, your spirit, your essence and counsel,
Dwell with us, but this feeling is not the same as when,
You were here.
I LOVE YOU REAGAN

 

SnowShoes by Renay / Your Momma, Renay

I ONLY WANTED YOU

They say memories are golden
well maybe that is true.
I never wanted memories,
I only wanted you.

A million times I needed you,
a million times I cried.
If love alone could have saved you
you never would have died.

In life I loved you dearly,
In death I love you still.
In my heart you hold a place
no one could ever fill.

If tears could build a stairway
and heartache make a lane,
I’d walk the path to heaven
and bring you back again.

Our family chain is broken,
and nothing seems the same.
But as God calls us one by one,
the chain will link again.

I LOVE YOU SNOWSHOES

 

Billie Joe by Stephaine / Your family

“Wishes”

We wish we could have told you,
in words you’d understand,
We wanted you to stay with us.
This wasn’t what we’d planned.

We wish somehow to tell you,
How empty we now feel.
A part of us went with you,
A part that time can’t heal.

We wish we’d once more hear you,
in your softly, rumbling purr,
to hold you on our laps again
and stroke your golden fur.

We wish we had you back again,
to fill this empty space.
But one day we’ll be together
in a far, far better place.

WE LOVE YOU, BJ.

 

Amber by Craig / Your family

A Bridge Called Love

It takes us back to brighter years,
to happier sunlit days
and to precious moments
that will be with us always.
And these fond recollections
are treasured in the heart
to bring us always close to those
from whom we had to part.

There is a bridge of memories
from earth to Heaven above…
It keeps our dear ones near us

It’s the bridge that we call love.

WE LOVE YOU AMBER.