Signs my Deceased Dog was OK part II

After Sasha's tragic death

    I was depressed for some time.  I cried a lot.  I thought I heard her walking through the house.  I took a photo of her empty crate, hoping to miraculously see her in the developed photo as 'proof' she was O.K.  I hugged her blanket nightly. 

    One day I sat in bed and watched t.v. (awe, life before kids right?!).  -Back then we had DISH, this was in 2006.  I never really watched the cartoon channel by myself but for some reason on this day I flicked through and stopped on the cartoon, or maybe it was a Disney channel.  

    By chance the movie, "All Dogs Go to Heaven Part II," was on.  This was a coincidence I thought since Sasha had recently been killed and I was heavily mourning her.  I left the movie on for a minute and quickly discovered, the lead female dog character's name was Sasha.  This comforted me.  I did feel it was a sign in a way... but I wanted a bigger one... I wanted to see her ghost or something but, this was nice.

Fast forward to the present

    As I mentioned in part I of this blog post, I foster dogs. 

    On December 2 I went to pick up a new foster dog, Rachel.

    Rachel was very fearful upon receiving her.  

    We worked with her and she blossomed out of her fear quickly. 

Rachel the foster dog

    For some unknown reason my life partner of 8 yrs. (I call him my husband) kept mistakenly calling Rachel Sasha.

    Then our son would call her Sasha. 

    I commented that was kind of strange because my first dog's name was Sasha.  Then something hit me.

   -I picked Rachel up as my foster dog on December 2, 2018, exactly 12 years to the date since Sasha's tragic death.

    I honestly thought this to be more than a coincidence... my husband calling Rachel "Sasha," and me having picked her up on the 12 year death anniversary of my Sasha. 

    And I had not realized I was getting Rachel on Sasha's death anniversary.  

   12-2 is one of those dates I'll never forget but also subconsciously choose not to remember (kind of like an ex's birthday). 

Finally, my last sign...

    We took Rachel to her transport meet up spot a couple weeks after having her with us.  That was, and is, always difficult. 

    Transport meet up is at the same place and hour every time.              There are typically a couple of vans with a dozen or so crates strategically loaded in each one.  

    There are other foster families dropping off or picking up dogs too.  

    Rachel froze in fear when it was time to load her into a crate on a van.  It was very sad.  My husband offered to put her in a crate for me but I said, "No, I've got her."

    I put her in a crate and remained strong... that's what's best for the dog.

    As we were driving home my husband said, "You saw what was on that crate didn't you?"

    "What crate?" I replied. 

    "The crate you put Sasha, I mean Rachel in.  It had a name written on it in permanent marker.  -It said Sasha." 

    So, yes, that was and still is powerful.

    Something so special to me about all of this is: 12 years later is when I got signs that I had so desperately begged for when Sasha died. 

    Sometimes life is on our terms.  Oftentimes it's not. 

    The bible says something to the nature of, to God hundreds of years can pass like a day.  - Apparently God isn't on our same timetable.  

    Yes, I'm reading the bible (for the first time in my life, started it about a year ago, it's a big, deep book... and I read several different books at any given time!).

Again, I was prompted to blog about all of this for a long-distance friend that recently lost her dog.

Peace be with you Jackie, and everyone else too. 

Thank you for prompting me to write this without even asking!