Taking Our Best Memories Along Part VI
With the sale of our house and move to our new home now complete, the subject had come up of the bittersweetness of leaving behind a home where we have so many happy memories with so many pets. In the summer of 2014 I completed a project at our previous home that was very close to my heart – a memorial garden for all of those pets. I am sad to leave that behind, but I will be taking many parts of it with us, and creating a new garden at our new home.
This trellis holds a tag for each pet that lived with us at our previous home but have since passed on. In this series I am sharing about each of those pets and how their memories tied in with our home.
Things couldn’t have worked out better for our final post in this series. The final pet that joined our household at our previous home, and is no longer with us, was our golden retriever Moses. Moses was Sheba’s littermate, and joined our home at Christmastime in 2004.
There were occasional issues with Moses and the other dogs, but mostly he was just a big goofy love. Moses loved to play ball with his sisters, though he wasn’t the most energetic of the group. He mostly liked to lie down and wait for the ball to come to him. Strangely, Luke has his same style, even though we sadly lost Moses to cancer the summer before Luke joined us.
There was one special thing that Moses did that I had never seen Luke do though. As long time readers know, Moses was part of the original Wag ‘n Woof Pets Crew, and I first wrote about this in my post “The Rules of the Game“. I want you to know that I’m not making today’s story up, and in the second paragraph of that post I tell how Moses used to pass the ball to Cricket after he caught it. Their passes were flawless….he dropped it from his mouth and she would catch it before it even hit the ground. It was only him that did it, Sheba has never done it….she just drops it on the ground for Cricket.
A couple of days after we moved into the new house last week, I was out in the yard playing with the dogs, when I saw Luke pass the ball to Cricket in the exact same way Moses used to! It brought tears to my eyes….because I needed to know that what I wrote through all these posts was true, saying that our past pets that were left behind in that memorial garden were coming with us to our new home. Not just by their memories, but I wanted to know their spirits were here with us as well. That pass from Cricket to Luke was my sign, and my heart warmed knowing that they all truly have come with us.
I took some video of the pass. It wasn’t just a fluke, they have continued to do it! You have to watch closely, as they move pretty fast when passing it off!
awe now I am tearing up, how sweet is that. moses is with you at the new place.
I love that story, and I really love your trellis!! When we moved from a home that we had loved, and thought was our “last” home, it was so hard, because we had beloved dogs buried there, and it was awful leaving them behind! I knew their spirits would come with us, of course, but that physical connection with them was gone. The trellis idea that you have might just be the ticket for my own yard, and I thank you for sharing that idea! The video of them playing ball was really great!!!
Thank you, I’m so glad you enjoyed the video! I got the trellis idea from a Facebook page I follow, and I’m so glad that others are picking up on it and wanting to use it as well. It was tough leaving so many pets buried there behind, I think that was the toughest part about moving. I can’t wait for the weather to turn to spring so I can get the trellis set up here at our new home.
That WAS beautiful. It brought tears to my eyes as well. 🙂 So glad they all came with you.
So beautiful. The whole series. Touching and insightful. I adore your trellis, too. I may have to borrow that concept for something similar for our new home’s new (well, as of yet I started) garden. Thanks for sharing your stories.
I’m so glad you enjoyed them, Maggie! I actually got the idea from a Facebook page – a home for senior dogs, and I’m happy to pass it on to others as well!
Of course I love and loved all your pets-but Moses had a special place in my heart-I think cause he reminded me of Bear-you know, the big goofy lovey guys, lol! But I loved this post, and I clicked on the link and went back and read the “The Rules of the Game”, and loved that-so cute and funny with their games, and trying to figure out the rules might have been impossible-and yet there were definitely some! I am looking forward to seeing your new memorial garden too someday at your new home, Jan-that trellis with the tags is so beautiful.
Moses was so much like Bear, and we loved that too. I hope where I put the trellis this time, we’ll be able to hear the tags tinkling in the wind. We never could where it was before.
How great is that?!? It definitely was a sign…that all is well. Moses sure was a handsome guy.
That’s adorable. And how unexpected.
When I was teaching home buying classes, I used to tell my students that they shouldn’t think of house sellers as the enemy. After all, it’s an emotional process for everyone. And people who are leaving a house are leaving behind memories, favorite pet memorials, and measurement marks on door jambs showing their kids’ growth.
If I was still teaching, I’d assign your memory posts for homework. 🙂
Thank you! 🙂
When we were at the closing for buying this house, the sellers told us some stories of their past dogs, and where some cats were buried. I could tell how much they enjoyed sharing those stories, and I know it makes them happy to know that their house went to someone who would also have pets.
****clapping paws**** I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!! That is DEFINITELY a “sign” and I love how they communicate between each other. That Trellis is brilliant. Perfect that it is transportable, I should tell my brother-in-law this, he has a memorial area for his pets at his home and I often wonder what he would do if they moved.
I’m getting ready to set it up, once we’re past the next round of winter not giving up (we might get snow this week). I know where the trellis is, but I still need to locate what I did with the tags! We’re still in a bit of a mess but working our way through it, and I’m sure I’ll find them (maybe Moses will direct me there). 🙂
That made me cry. There is no question in my mind that your pets came with you. That is such a sweet way to let you know. I have talked to many others that have experienced this sort of thing.
Magical things happen when you keep your heart open to them! Definitely not a fluke!
Hugs, Pam
Reading this made me get a little teary! I love everything about this!
That is very cute!
Love, love, love this! Great video 🙂
That’s amazing that Luke does that! I can attest to the fact that Moses always passed the ball to Cricket. I used to love throwing the ball for them. I’d throw it high sometimes so Moses could get it, just to see him pass it off to her. I miss him too, but his spirit is definitely there with you. 🙂
Oh my goodness!! So special to have that memory of Moses and be able to see it with Luke and Cricket. It is Moses saying it’s all good here, I am with you always!!
What a beautiful story complete with video.
What a heartwarming story! It’s so wonderful to know Moses is right there with you. 🙂
What a hard move. Pictures and so many memories will pull you through
Lily & Edward
I saw it!!!! how cool! your crew is pawsome and I bet they always have a special connection with all the members of your crew who had to go to that bridge and I bet Luke learnt the rules of the game from Moses that way
Now you’ve got me crying, but happy tears. Bless our sweet angel pups, they always find a way to let us know they are still with us.????????
It’s kind of funny, but Moses was always one to give us signs, more than any other I can remember. He also gave us a sign not long after he passed away. I wrote about it in this post: http://www.afarmgirlsfinds.com/this-n-that-thursday/ If you are interested in reading about it, you can skip to the paragraph called “The Visitor”.
That is wonderful. We love it when we get signs just when we seem to need them most!
I miss that old sock thief!
Ha ha, I had forgotten he was a sock thief! At least he didn’t chew them up though, right? 😉