09/24/2026
We are sending Ruadhán to the next world on Monday. She has osteosarcoma and it's in her shoulder and torso where there isn't even a chance of surgery giving her more time. She just turned 12 ...just a couple days shy of a month ago. I'm not ready for this, but it's no kindness to let this progress. We're spoiling her as best we can and she's still, with pain meds on board, able to appreciate it.
What makes this a bit harder is that she was very bonded with these two, although she only was with Gleann for a year before he passed. We lost both of them since and we lost the land they are buried on. She will not lie next to her older brothers. Her body will be alone next to the new ritual site and the memorial garden that, well, we just haven't gotten to making yet. And that makes this a bit extra painful....as it's been painful to lose the graveyard of nine dogs and two cats up there and now this.
We'll put a bit of hair from both these boys with her, as we keep some. We already intended to add some of all of their hair to the memorial garden. And I certainly do not believe spirit is bound to graves (for all I love a certain Peter S. Beagle story). I know our hounds and cats are around here a lot, as they wish. Still....it bothers me....it adds to how much I'm not ready for this.
So I wanted to put this out into the world, that these three loved each other, that they will be together again. And someday, hopefully a long, long time from now, Trú whose heart is about to be broken again (for he also knew and lost Caibre), will lie beside her in body as their spirits also reunite. And, hopefully, he'll have a new beloved sibling long before then, which I regret we were not able to get before now... we would probably be doing that (a local non-Greyhound, because traveling to get a Grey was a bit much right now, but someday another Greyhound as well) if Ruadhán hadn't started to become debilitated...once we knew it was near the end, so suddenly, well, such a change is not what she needed...even if he might do better if we could have. If only there had been time.
Right now she is sleeping cuddled next to me, Trú is on my other side. I'll be spending a lot of time sitting here with them for the next few days.