While I Was Sleeping

    This morning, just before we started eating breakfast, Bruce paused and said, "I hate that cycle of life crap."  And I immediately knew that one of our animals had died. 

    At five this morning he'd been awakened by the dogs barking up a storm in the barn and then he heard the geese honking.  He got the flashlight and he and the dogs ran in the dark down to the pond.  There was a coyote standing on the hill with a white shape nearby in the grass.  The coyote watched Bruce for a moment, then Bruce gave a yell and it took off running.  Bruce's first thought was that the coyote had gotten a duck.  His second thought was that this was sad but perhaps not such a bad thing, given their overabundance.  But it wasn't a duck; it was one of the Auntie Geese.  She was still alive, but so badly hurt that Bruce came back to the house for his 22 and finished her off to end her suffering.  I'm extremely fortunate to be married to a man who can deal with a situation like this so well.

    Barking, yelling, gunshots.  All this happened, and I never woke up.  Just as well.  The down side to having and loving so many animals is that, by the nature of things, they enter and leave our lives quite regularly.  Fortunately, the majority of them aren't personal friends, so letting go is sad but relatively easy.  However, this isn't the case for the animals who have been with us for a long time and forged strong bonds through a shared history.  When they die, I cry.

    Auntie goose (and her sister, the other Auntie Goose -- I never could tell them apart) had been a member of the family for at least 12 years.  She never had any goslings of her own, but was sweetly maternal towards all of the other waterfowl's offspring.  Loving all feathered babies, she was never happier than when she was in the midst of a newly hatched group of ducklings.  If she'd been human, she'd have been one of those bosomy maiden ladies who hold out their arms to cuddle other people's infants. 

    So today my heart hurts for the loss of a pretty white goose.  I know that in the great scheme of things this isn't such a big tragedy, but she was a friend and it's only right that I should miss her.  And, for today, I have to agree with Bruce and say that I also hate that cycle of life crap. 

Give me a few days and I'll get myself back on an even keel.  Although it's painful right now, I'm incredibly blessed to have so many animals to love.



Good Auntie Goose!