Monday, September 10, 2012

Grandma's Moon Garden

Grandma's Moon Garden is a special place.

My human mom has really been missing her human mom, so she decided to spend the day working in the Moon Garden. Grandma (Mom's Mom) strategically designed the garden where the moonlight first glows on our Idaho pasture on her August birthday. But when Mom took me out to the Moon Garden during the recent Blue Moon, we couldn't see the moonlight shining on the rocks. There were too many weeds.


While working in the Moon Garden, Mom found a special guitar pick that her older brother used. She found a dream weaver. She found a little moon man and a bigger moon man. She thought about Neil Armstrong and his passing. She thought about her mom and her passing. She thought about how her mom used to say, "Oh, honey. Be easier on yourself. It's all just learning."

People who don't know say to move forward, or to move on, after the death of a loved one, but I don't think that is how it works. I think you walk with your loved one forever more. Every beloved pet that you've ever had is walking with you now. Every beloved person is there, too. It's just that now, instead of the being walking beside you, physically, the being walks beside you, spiritually. But it's even more than that. You contain those beloved beings who have gone before; each one lives within you. It's an honor. A responsibility. A comfort.

But sometimes it doesn't feel like that. Sometimes you just need to touch a rock that your mom touched. You need to touch and to water rocks that your mom placed in her Moon Garden.

While my mom weeded, I sat nearby. And then I started barking. Little yips. High yips. They weren't food yips or upset yips. I couldn't help myself. Mom said, "Oh, Tootsie! You don't let me get oh-so melancholy, do you?"

Mom took me inside the house, and I spent the rest of the afternoon slowly and steadily humping my fur brother Truffle.


I licked his ear and nibbled it all over. And then I air humped Truff some more.


My humpy business just made Truffle squeak, but I think he might have liked it when I licked his eyes and ears.


Mom says that Grandma would have loved me. I love her, too.

Snoopy's Dog Blog

20 comments:

  1. Oh Tootsie, I'm sure your Grandma would have adored you, even if Truffle merely tolerates your, er, affections!
    And thank you so much for sharing Grandma's moon garden, and for this lovely, thoughtful post.
    Cheers,
    Gail and Bertie.

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  2. Dear Tootsie and mama, you made me cry and laugh. Were you feeling melancholic because your (grand)mama's birthday just passed? It's good to remember but I'm glad you ended the day with a laugh. How does Truffle feel about what you did though? ;) x

    P.S. A moon garden is a wonderful idea.

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  3. What a wonderful garden of remembrance...You're so right your Grandma's memory will pop up all the time and make you smile.

    XXXOOO Daisy, Bella & Roxy

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  4. Nice post Tootsie. Have a really lovely Monday.
    Best wishes Molly

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  5. Your moon garden is beautiful! I love that idea.

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  6. What a beautiful garden and words. You are wise Tootsie. And funny too.
    Blessings,
    Goose

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  7. I've never heard of a Moon Garden before. It's just beautiful!



    (you'll excuse me for saying so, I hope, but the humping is kinda funny. Especially since Truffle looks mostly unconcerned, if somewhat dubious).

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  8. LOL... boy is that some mischief there!

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  9. Woof! Woof! LOVELY! LOVE the last photo ... Happy MM. Lots of Golden Woofs, Sugar

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  10. I simply LOVE your MOON GARDEN!!!! Sometimes I like to give Ernie HUMP HUGS, too. I have a ... HUNCH.... that lots of us give our brothers and sisters Hump Hugs. I'm just sayin.

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  11. What a wonderful tribute to your grandma! The humping part is a little weird!

    Nubbin wiggles,
    Oskar

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  12. My mom loved this post. She lost her mom, my grandma, ten years ago, so she could really relate. She still misses her terribly, but she sees her regularly -- in flowers blooming by the roadside and in the random kind acts of strangers. She thinks of how much grandma would have enjoyed meeting me and seeing me and my labbie cousins play in the water together.

    We think it's wonderful that your mom has a special place like your grandma's moon garden.

    your friend,
    Garth

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  13. Christa taking dictation from BrunoSeptember 11, 2012 at 10:12 AM

    Tootsie, your post went from the spiritual to the primal with the speed of a scurrying ADHD dachshund... :-) Sweet and amusing. The moon garden is a beautiful notion and Truffle is a good and patient soul. Thanks for sharing a special post! Wags from the whole pack.

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  14. Hugs to mum! Loss is difficult any way you slice it. I'm sure your mum's sadness is made easier because of you.

    If you pop over to my blog today, you can enter my treat contest.

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  15. I NEEDED this today. Air humping. Hehehe My inner 12 year old was giggling madly!

    XoXo's
    Sarah & le Weens
    http://doxiejibberish.blogspot.com/

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  16. You warmed our hearts this morning Tootsie! We've been missing our Grandma and Mommy has been really sad. It's nice to know we're all not alone....

    Hugs,
    Lily Belle & Muffin

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  17. What beautiful thoughts. A mooon garden sounds like such a peaceful place to gather in your loved ones who are no longer with you physically.

    Thank you for stopping by! We don't do blog hops because our mom is not very reliable, but we do like meeting new fur pals.

    As for the firecrackers: it's not that we like them; it's that we no longer go nuts -- just a few barks and then make sure we're as close to mom as we can get -- sometimes we become dog slippers on her paws!

    Wirey woofs,

    Jake and Just Harry

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  18. I love your moon garden. What a wonderful way to connect with grandma. I love working in the garden with my mom.

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  19. [Tootsie here. This is from Grandpa; it needs a title:]

    These holes in the psychie and heart
    That grow bigger with more time apart
    We must honor as spaces
    That hold all those graces
    We shared with our love from the start

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