Beginning
The idea for this blog was born on a bright, crisp September day brimming with hope, joy, and the anticipation of something special. I remember sitting on the beach in Bodega Bay, watching the sunset paint the sky. My heart was overflowing with love and gratitude for our beautiful furry boys. My notebook, tucked beside me, was already filling with drafts of those first posts and ideas blossoming with each passing wave. I wanted to share the story about Sunny, our first rescue, a tiny ten-day-old kitten who filled our home with light and ignited my passion for caring for other animals. And then there was Marley. Intelligent, kind, and sensitive, he was more than a friendly cat; he was my soulmate. Our bond was an unbreakable tapestry of unconditional love. I envisioned sharing these connections and joy with the world, dreaming of opening a window into our lives with these incredible beings.
Little did I know that just a short time later, my world would shatter. The sudden, devastating loss of Marley to cancer in the summer of 2022 silenced my voice, extinguishing the very spark that had ignited this journey.
Days of Sorrow
The vibrant energy that fueled those initial blog ideas slowly faded, replaced by a heavy silence and the emptiness Marley’s absence left behind. Months blurred into a landscape of quiet sorrow, the initial spark of the blog now just a faint ember. As the seasons turned, my attention became increasingly focused on another of our beloved companions. When our other senior cat Joey was sick, I could not stay home with him. I started a new job a month before and was still in training.
I still remember the conversation with my colleague vividly. Desperate for a semblance of support as Joey’s health worsened, I shared my worries. Her immediate and only question, “Is he old?”, felt like a callous dismissal. It was as if his age somehow negated the significance of his life and my impending loss. My brief interaction with the co-worker crystallized a painful truth: the profound love and grief we experience for our animal companions are minimized or outright ignored by a society that places a different value on their lives. The person’s question, though perhaps unintentional, cut deeply into my soul, leaving me feeling even more isolated and foreshadowing the lack of understanding I would face in my grief.
Search for Purpose
This dismissive episode and lack of understanding only amplified the profound disconnect I felt in my daily routine. My drive to work felt like a journey away from myself. The days blurred into a monotonous cycle of meaningless tasks that felt increasingly hollow. My life had become a treadmill, and the silence in my writing mirrored the growing emptiness in my daily routine, a gnawing sense that I was adrift from my true calling.
Trapped in an unfulfilling job, I felt like I was contributing to the hustle culture, a hamster wheel of obligation that offered no outlet for the deep grief for my loved ones and the burgeoning desire to make a real difference in the lives of animals. This realization fueled a growing sense of frustration and a desperate yearning for work that truly aligned with my values.
The compounded weight of my losses had left me feeling adrift. My heart ached not only for my own lost companions but also for the countless others I encountered in the periphery of my volunteering and at work. The reality of abandoned animals, their stories etched in the cold clinical language of hospital charts, fueled a growing sense of devastation and anger. The powerlessness I felt was suffocating. How could I reconcile my love for animals with the indifference and cruelty I witnessed?
Reading those entries in patients’ hospital charts – beloved dogs and cats abandoned in their parents’ absence, sometimes callously refused by family- ignited a fierce ache within me. I knew, with a certainty that cut through my numbness, that I had to do something, anything, to help. The realization, however, came with a frustrating wall of “how?”
Transformation.
Lost and searching, I began to devour books, seeking solace and guidance from spiritual teachers and intuitive practitioners online. I couldn’t reconcile myself to the finality of death. The absence of Marley, Gandhi, and Joey left like a unbearable injustice. Instead, I found myself increasingly attuned to their presence, a deep knowing that their essence endured.
This unbreakable belief in an afterlife, coupled with the raw ache of helplessness I felt, propelled me onto a path of profound personal transformation. It wasn’t just about finding a new hobby or interest; but about rebuilding my very soul, seeking a sense of wholeness that had been shattered by grief. A quiet conviction grew within me: there had to be a life lived with more purpose, a way to earn a living that aligned with this newly emerged understanding. I resolved to embark on a journey of discovery, to unearth my true calling and forge my new identity rooted in meaning.
New Purpose
During the period of intense exploration, I stumbled upon the concepts of Animal Reiki and Animal Chaplaincy. The definition offered by the well-known Animal Chaplain Sarah Bowen resonated deeply within me: a calling to support all sentient beings, regardless of species or belief system. Offering comfort and resources to animals and humans during illness, at the end of life, and in the myriad challenging situations they face in shelters, on the streets, and in the brutal realities of human exploitation felt like the answer my soul had been searching for. I knew, with unwavering certainty, that I had found my path. My decision to enroll in the Animal Chaplaincy Program that September felt less like a choice and more like a homecoming.
And so, with a renewed sense of purpose, I return to the written word. The stories of Sunny, Marley, Gandhi, and Joey will forever be a part of our blog fabric, but the focus has broadened. We are becoming a platform for advocacy, a space to raise awareness about animal welfare, and a voice for the cultural shifts so desperately needed in how we treat the non-human world.