{"id":119,"date":"2009-06-28T13:04:38","date_gmt":"2009-06-28T13:04:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/yourcharmedlife\/2009\/06\/aspens-obituary.html"},"modified":"2009-06-28T13:04:38","modified_gmt":"2009-06-28T13:04:38","slug":"aspens-obituary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourcharmedlife\/2009\/06\/aspens-obituary.html","title":{"rendered":"Aspen&#8217;s Obituary"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I don&#8217;t usually write on Sunday, but I&#8217;m making an exception,\u00a0as I watch my life trying to rearrange itself in the wake of Aspen&#8217;s death.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>It&#8217;s always hard when someone you love leaves, regardless of species. The tragic deaths,<\/div>\n<p><span class=\"mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Aspen running.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/Aspen%20running.jpg\" width=\"111\" height=\"166\" class=\"mt-image-right\" style=\"float: right;margin: 0 0 20px 20px\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<div>those that are untimely or violent, are the most difficult, but even a merciful death as Aspen&#8217;s was&#8212;she&#8217;d lived a long life, got six months extra with the cancer treatment, and was able to go before things got too bad&#8212;still leaves those of us affected by it with a hole to fill, a void to feel, and a life that doesn&#8217;t stack up right. Aspen was with us since 1994. To go on without her will take some getting used to.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>We never did get one of those housecall vets to come (note to self: die during the week), but going to the neighborhood animal clinic that she&#8217;s used to turned out to be a bittersweet blessing. Nick carried Aspen down the stairs but after that she wanted to walk. I was surprised that she made it the two blocks on her own, sniffing trees and buildings because she was a long-nosed dog and sniffing was her favorite thing. My daughter, Adair, her husband, Nick, their other dog, Oliver, and I were all with Aspen when she went. We wrapped her in love. I stayed on with her for a few minutes after. I figured she was up on the ceiling looking down, like the near-death-experience people say, and I didn&#8217;t want to just leave. I told her to follow the Light, but she lived in the Light so I don&#8217;t think she had any trouble.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Yesterday was a sad. I walked around the Upper West Side and ultimately went into a little beauty shoppe I know and got my roots touched up. When in doubt, self-care is a good thing. Last night Adair and Nick and I went to dinner. I bought mangoes from the street vendor on their corner. He has the best mangoes. Since life has to go on, it needs to go on with some quality, I figure.\u00a0<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Today, for me anyway, is worse than yesterday. It&#8217;s a Sunday. There&#8217;s a line from an old <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cowboylyrics.com\/lyrics\/kristofferson-kris\/sunday-morning-coming-down-1886.html\">Kris Kristofferson song<\/a> that goes, &#8220;And there&#8217;s nothin&#8217; short of dyin&#8217; half as lonesome as the sound, on these sleepin&#8217; city sidewalks, Sunday mornin&#8217; comin&#8217; down.&#8221; I guess because the routine of work isn&#8217;t here for comfort, Sundays seem longer and harder. William is out of town. I didn&#8217;t go to church because my church is mega-joyous. Most of the time that&#8217;s good. Today I wanted something else. Maybe to think these thoughts and write these words.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Here is the tribute that Adair wrote for Aspen:<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center\"><span class=\"mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Aspen lying.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/Aspen%20lying.jpg\" width=\"226\" height=\"151\" class=\"mt-image-center\" style=\"text-align: center;margin: 0 auto 20px\" \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div>After 15 years of unwavering love and companionship, Aspen peacefully left this world on June 27, 2009.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>When we met Aspen she was an abandoned stray found wandering the streets in a rainstorm, starving and afraid. She taught us that great happiness can follow a difficult beginning, and that helping a fellow creature in need is one of the greatest joys of life.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Aspen has been with us through the loss of family members, a move across country, and a marriage; she walked down the asile as the &#8220;flower dog.&#8221; Through good times and bad, Aspen was always there reminding us to live \u00a0every day to the fullest, and to love those around us unconditionally.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Please direct any donations in Aspen&#8217;s memory to <a href=\"http:\/\/mightymutts.tripod.com\">Mighty Mutts<\/a>, an all-volunteer dog-and-cat rescue group serving the New York City metropolitan area. Thank you for all your support.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center\"><span class=\"mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Aspen closeup.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/133\/import\/Aspen%20closeup.jpg\" width=\"226\" height=\"150\" class=\"mt-image-center\" style=\"text-align: center;margin: 0 auto 20px\" \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-style: italic\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I don&#8217;t usually write on Sunday, but I&#8217;m making an exception,\u00a0as I watch my life trying to rearrange itself in the wake of Aspen&#8217;s death.\u00a0 It&#8217;s always hard when someone you love leaves, regardless of species. The tragic deaths, those that are untimely or violent, are the most difficult, but even a merciful death as&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":177,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-charmed-life-chronicles"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Aspen&#039;s Obituary - Your Charmed Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourcharmedlife\/2009\/06\/aspens-obituary.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Aspen&#039;s Obituary - Your Charmed Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I don&#8217;t usually write on Sunday, but I&#8217;m making an exception,\u00a0as I watch my life trying to rearrange itself in the wake of Aspen&#8217;s death.\u00a0 It&#8217;s always hard when someone you love leaves, regardless of species. The tragic deaths, those that are untimely or violent, are the most difficult, but even a merciful death as&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourcharmedlife\/2009\/06\/aspens-obituary.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Your Charmed Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-06-28T13:04:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/yourcharmedlife\/Aspen%20running.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Victoria Moran\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Aspen's Obituary - Your Charmed Life","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourcharmedlife\/2009\/06\/aspens-obituary.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Aspen's Obituary - Your Charmed Life","og_description":"I don&#8217;t usually write on Sunday, but I&#8217;m making an exception,\u00a0as I watch my life trying to rearrange itself in the wake of Aspen&#8217;s death.\u00a0 It&#8217;s always hard when someone you love leaves, regardless of species. 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