Foley Recounts Christmas Morning With Her Angel Family

Christmas morning broke crisp and clear here at Rainbow Bridge.  I could hear commotion in the living room. I got up and followed the sound.   Skye, a little black Yorkipoo, who came to the Bridge as a puppy in 2006, and into our lives when my parents saw his picture and fell in love with him, even though they knew he came from Lancaster Pennsylvania, home of some of the worst breeders in the world.  (Thank you, Amish, they can build a barn-like nobody’s business, but they can’t make a shelter for the breeding dogs). My parents knew Skye was going to have medical issues, and may not have a long life, but they pledged to love her for as many days as she has on Earth.  That was about 60 in money terms that was a few thousand. Skye had a neurological issue. Its cause could not be found. My parents regretted giving money to a breeder but not having Skye. A parent and dog can create quite a bond in 30 days.
Since Skye passed to the Bridge as a puppy, she is a perpetual baby. 

   Dealing with puppy energy is hard, especially when you know it is going to last for eternity.  But at Christmas seeing a joyful puppy ripping the wrappings off her presents brings a smile to even a Brussels Griffon’s face.

Copper came out of her bedroom.  She went to the Bridge in 2005. One morning we were put in my parents’ bedroom, Copper in her crate, me on my blanket, when mommy went out.  I woke up, but Copper didn’t. She had snuck off to the Bridge while we slept. She was only three years old. There were no answers.

Copper was as shy here as she was on the mortal side.  She stood in a corner watching Skye opening presents. I told Copper she could get hers.  She tentatively walked over to the gifts, pulled one out, and gently opened it. Santa had brought her a tennis ball launcher.  She dragged it outside in the fresh snow, which was neither wet nor cold, put her tennis ball in it, hit the switch and watched in joy as the ball sailed overhead.  She ran it down, brought it back, and continued to play for hours.

Jax, the only brother I ever had, who went to the Bridge in 2002, because of an undisclosed illness, which the vet misdiagnosed as a shoulder strain, leading to a lawsuit, which my parents lost because the vet spent $10,000 to pay other vets who said he made the right decision, instead of paying my parents the $1,000 they asked for, came flying through the house.  Jax always had the zooms. He almost knocked down the tree as the little papillon darted back and forth. He grabbed a gift, opened it, and found a bad squirrel, one who Jax had been gifted by the Big Guy because on Earth the squirrel had been selfish and not shared his nuts, so he was sentenced to time in purgatory, which he would serve by continually running for his life from Jax, until the Big Guy was satisfied.   The last I saw of Jax was his white tail going out the door.

My big sister Blake, a cute black and white Shih Tzu, who went to the Bridge in 2001, after a battle with cancer, (my parents lost four pups between 2001 and 2006, three of them young, but the had me, so they were okay) has become house mother to us all. 

 She loved mommy, and she is living her afterlife like mommy lives her life, with lots of cooking, baking, and cleaning. She showed me her new Calphalon Classic pots and pans. Santa knows Blake well. I would have hated the gift, but Blake loved them and went back to the kitchen to cook some more.

Then I saw a small present with my name.   I only asked for my parents’ lives to be easier so I couldn’t imagine what it was.  I opened it and found a big nightshirt. At first, I was confused, but then I sniffed it and realized it was one of mommy’s old nightshirts.  She must have thrown it out and Santa saved it and gave it to me. It was the best gift I ever received.


While Blake was cooking, Jax was tormenting the bad squirrel, Copper was chasing her ball, and Skye was walking around with a new squeaky toy in her mouth happily biting it and laughing each time the toy made a noise, I went back to bed, on top of mommy’s nightshirt, breathing in her scent, and had the best night’s sleep I had at the Bridge.