Marking Two Important Dates

I could not let two days this week pass unnoticed. They are both important, one to me personally and the other to many folks.

It was on November 10, 2003 that both my little Brittany Spaniel Butch and my life partner left me within a very few minutes of each other. I have had other well loved dogs since then and at least one serious relationship that ultimately did not work out but I will miss my mate and partner for the rest of my days in this world. We had thirty two good years and just over two months together in which I helped him raise two children and worked on one novel together as well as sharing many other adventures. 

I do not feel like we were working out any karmic issues although I think we may have shared a life in the distant past as partners. I've been working along on a fictitious version of what I have sensed. For now it is called The Way to Iona and takes place at the time St. Columba had his Christian colony on the isle between Ireland and Scotland. However, I suspect Jim will be reunited with his first wife in the next life since they had a lot of issues unresolved when she died suddenly a few months before he and I met and joined forces. 

As for little Butch, he waits with a whole pack of other canine friends and a herd of horses and mules there at the Rainbow Bridge and I will see him again too. It's a comforting belief, at least for me. 

Then of course Wednesday, November 11 is Veteran's Day or as a few old folks still call it, Armistice Day. At first it marked the end of World War I but has since come to be the day we honor all our fallen military folk and remember that we owe a great debt to them and to those who continue to serve to this day. I am no longer involved in activities as I was when I was an active VFW Auxiliary member back in Huachuca City but that does not mean the date has no meaning for me now. That will never be!

Below I repost a verse I wrote and recited at a ceremony held at VFW Post 10,342 some years ago, and a photo of Butch and one of my husband and me on our wedding day. It is hard to believe I was once so young! I adopted a very "hippie" style in those days and wed in a green dress I had made myself.

Gaye and Jim, 3 Sep 1971

Butch, sweet little friend

Veteran's Day

I hear the drum roll in my mind

and then I see, before, behind,

the Silent Legions marching past

to join the Great Parade, at last...

From Flanders Fields and Iwo's sands,

from nameless near and distant lands

where they have fought and bled and died

for to uphold the Nation's Pride

and secure the Peace and Liberty

today enjoyed by you and me...

Each heart with praise should overflow

and gladly search for ways to show

that we remember and we care

and at least in spirit share

their sacrifice, their gift, their pain.

We know they did not die in vain.

   

The torch still burns: we carry on

 the flame kept bright by those now gone.

 They're marching still, they're fighting yet;

 and so must we...lest we forget.               (c)  GMW, Nov 1986