Life Is A Highway

"...Our Master can see it all. If you drive down a long curvy road, you don't see the twists and turns until you are on top of them. But when you see things from a higher perspective you can see the whole road and the twists and the turns and the beginning and the end. In Heaven we can see where you are in relation to where you're going and we can make things happen at the intersections of life. We can create the right time and the right place and we can already see how it all ends. We can see the whole story of your life while you live it in little bits and pieces..."  

"Jack McAfghan: Return from Rainbow Bridge"

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We Are All Lost Until We Are Found...Losing Immy

Tonight I was walking Immy and Joey in the tiny artist colony of Tubac, Arizona. As we headed up the gravel road to the Montessori School I stopped to take a photo of the cranberry colored monsoon sky. In that very moment a cottontail rabbit sprang from the nearby bushes and Immy took off like a rocket after it, the leash flew from my hand, catching me totally off guard.  

Joey and I raced after her, but she was going 45 MPH and we were going maybe 8 MPH. She was absolutely nowhere to be seen as we came to the crest of the sloped gravel drive. A giant field, the frontage road on one side of it with Highway 19 just beyond. My mind was taking me to crazy places. I called her name over and over. Almost crying. "Hey Immy, Good Girl Come On! Let's go home!"  I whistled, the same whistle I would whistle to bring Jack home. No luck. She was nowhere to be found. 

Joey and I then ran as fast as we could all the way home to get the car.  Of course dusk was upon us. It was getting so dark already. I left the patio door open in the event she came home of her own accord. I grabbed my flashlight, stopped to post a Lost Dog post on my Facebook Page and the Tubac Barrio and Surrounding Area pages. I tried to post on the local Lost and Found Pet pages but was I a member? No of course not. I was never going to lose a dog. My hands were shaking so badly and between that and Spellchecker I was about insane already.  We took off in the car on the DARK roads of Tubac. Immy is dark! The roads are dark! My mind, still taking me to terrible places. 

We drove back up to the area where we last saw her. I drove all over the schoolyard, the nearby acreage. I climbed into the deep rocky ditches and the water-filled arroyo with my flashlight. Calling her calling her. Meanwhile the huge trucks are bearing down on the nearby highway. 

"Dear God, not the highway."  She is smart but I do believe she would walk right out in front of a car despite my years of trying to teach her otherwise.  

Then the train.  Whoo Whoo!   OMG. The railroad tracks! The train! Just 1/4 mile away on the other side of the village from the highway. I start hyperventilating. Crying. Driving slowly on all the streets of town, crying her name out. I had no whistle left. To the Frontage Road for 1/2 mile. I refused to consider the highway option.  It had claimed enough canine lives since I moved here so I tried to believe that statistically she was safe.  : / 

I was getting more and more upset. Hyperventilating.  Three times I came back to the house to see if she was there, but no Immy.  Each time I got more upset than the last time. A third drive through all the streets of town. I realized how upset I was getting; sick with it really. 

"Stop." I say. "Where's your faith? God's got this." 

God. The angels. Jack. Anyone else? I asked for help from all of them. 

I started to imagine her walking along the side street with her leash dangling behind her, waiting for me to find her walking along, ever so nonchalantly.
A song popped into my head and I started singing. 

🎶"There she was just a walkin down the street singin do wah diddy diddy dum diddy doo..." 🎶

I turned a corner, got nervous again. Those tears, that fear is so persistent! 

But so's the tune. 

"She looked good, looked fine..... "🎶

"God's got this. He knows what he's doing."
The tears, the fears still trying to get through. My imagination, trying to get the best of me.   

".... and I nearly lost my mind."🎶

We're all lost until we're found

Then I remember my pendulum. I had not dowsed in many years.
It was in the console of my car.  I pulled it out.
No, it said, she's not at the highway. No, she's nowhere near the railroad. Not there. No, not there. She was in the village limits. She was within the 9 square blocks of our quiet little village.
She was safe. She wasn't dead or injured.
🎶"..do wa diddy diddy dum diddy do..."🎶
Around and around the town I went. Visiting all the nooks and crannies.
Coming back along towards our house, I'm crying again!
OMG what if someone finds her and uses her for dog fight bait!  OMG!
Stop.
"Dear God protect her. If she doesn't ever come home, take care of her. Please."
Crying.
"I promise I'll never use my phone again on our walks if you only bring her back."
Entering the Bargaining Stage of Grief now.
Waah!
Stop.
"Get into your faith Kate. It's life. Whatever happens will happen."
I thought of Jack's excerpt from Book 3, Return from Rainbow Bridge...

Whatever happens there's a reason. I have to trust God with His Plan. 

I have to trust myself that she loves me enough that she would want to come home. 

I have to trust her that she is smart enough to find her way home. After all, we walk these village streets every day. She must know her way around quite well by now. She is a hound dog after all.  

Driving up the gravel road to the school for the fourth time, 

did I see two shining eyes up the road in the headlights?  

🎶"Before I knew it she was walkin' next to me...singing do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do."  🎶

No. It was my imagination.  Maybe a premonition. 

Wait. Look! Is that her standing over there?    

No. It's a downed tree that just happens to look like her.

Hey, a rabbit! It looked like the same rabbit she went after. 

Came out from the same place in the bushes. 🐾
I followed the rabbit.

🎶" Whoa-oh, I knew we was falling in love..."🎶

A left turn down into the nearby neighborhood. Into a vacant side lot. 

Drove my car over the bumps and rocks to search the lot with my headlights. 

Did I see two shining eyes ahead?

  🎶"She looked good. She looked fine. And I nearly lost my mind."🎶

From the Archives

🎶 There she was just as natural as can be. Standing perfectly still. Looking at me.
The rabbit was sitting there watching us the whole time.
Immy seemed confused, scared, not moving. Looked like she didn't recognize me.
This sighthound had to get a close smell of me to know it was me.
She often lets fear get the best of her. (Sounds like someone I know.) 

As I got closer I was able to see her dilemma. She had gotten the handle of her 16' retractable leash caught on a nearby mesquite bush. (so strange, we usually use the retractable on the wilderness trails and the regular leash in town, but for some reason we used the retractable one tonight. Divine Intervention?) Not only that but she had obviously tried to get herself loose and had it wrapped around quite creatively on an upside down tree stump beside her. Knowing how she gets when she is scared, I was not surprised to see the rest of the leash wrapped round all of her legs, like a cat's cradle, so she couldn't move an inch. 

The rabbit just watched. Immy was silent. She never complains about anything. She just endures. 

🎶"Whoa-oh, I knew I was falling in love..."🎶

It took about ten minutes to get her untangled from herself. 

Gosh she must've heard me crying and calling for her all over town, from her tangled web on this dark vacant lot. I wonder what she was thinking. Feeling. 

As soon as she was loose I hugged her and hugged her and hugged her. She is not usually tolerant of much affection but she was hugging me back. 

She was thrilled to get into the car. I wish I had a picture of her and Joey when they reunited at the car window.

But no more pictures when I have a dog on a leash. 

We headed home. 

🎶"...and so I told her all the things I'd been dreamin' of..."🎶

I had to be calm. I had to have faith. I had to stop crying and Be Still.
The stress. The adrenalin! Imagining the worst.
The moment I stopped worrying and put my faith in God and all the rest of us, everything turned around. 

I came home to hundreds of prayers from my frantic posting on Facebook two hours earlier (gosh it was only two hours? It felt like ten!) A very kind and helpful call came in from the local Santa Cruz Sheriff's Department who had received a call from a friend in Connecticut about my lost dog, wondering if they could help. (I was a little nervous, I thought they might have been calling me because I had been driving off-road all over the town screaming "IMMY!" and carrying on). I also received a call from an Animal Communicator friend I had met in Sedona who has expertise in Finding Lost Pets, calling to offer to help me free of charge to locate Immy. And one of my home care patients who is now a Facebook Friend offered to drive down with her husband to help me try to find her. Wow. I am overwhelmed with the care and concern and offers to help us tonight.  

What an adventure. She's exhausted. Joey's exhausted. I'm exhausted. 

But we're happy.  🎶So Happy Together 🎶

When you lose something precious and then get it back, you make sure to fulfill your promises. No more taking photos along our walks. It's going to take some discipline for me, based on my history. 

🎶"Now we're together every single day...

We're so happy and it's how we're gonna stay..."🎶

You do what you have to do and you honor your Promises. 

🎶"..Do wa diddy diddy dum diddy do..." 🎶

Night Night Miss Immy.  

Lyrics Do Wah Diddy by Manfred Mann

Songwriters: Ellie Greenwich / Jeff Barry

My apologies ahead of time if this song sticks in your head for the rest of the night too! 

Do You Love Me Enough to do This?

(reprinted with permission from Kate's Blog ...because it applies to all kinds of love) 

Letting Go doesn't mean you don't love them anymore. Letting Go doesn't mean you won't miss them anymore. You can never cut the ties that bind two souls together who truly love each other. What you DO need to cut is the Leash of Grief and Guilt that binds them to you and prevents them from doing what is best for them.

As They say, set something free and if it was yours to begin with, it will come back. It's natural law, in Heaven and on Earth and in all the spaces in between life and death and life. Your loved ones cannot come back from a place they have not yet arrived. 

If you are looking for Signs and not finding them, take a look at what you are doing. If your best friend is still on the leash of your grief, your best friend is not yet free to be everything he or she can be. 

Letting Go is the most important thing you can do for both of you. It is the ultimate act of faith... and you will be rewarded for it. 

Breathe. Then Let Go. It's time.

You say you love. Do you love them enough to let them go? 

Do you trust them enough to have the faith that they will never leave?  

"'Do not cling to me,' said Jesus, 'for I have not yet ascended to the Father.'"

John 20:17

(Jesus to Mary Magdalene) 

"Why Did You Doubt Me?"

When you are positioned, when your mind is clear, you can receive Messages from Heaven.

In The Bible Peter showed his faith and he walked upon the water. Until he started thinking about it....when down he went, into the waves of chaos. The chaos of his mind. 

Such as it is with dreams and visions that come to you from us in Heaven. In an unexpected moment, you see the one you've been longing to see. Oh you’ve been waiting so long to see me! I am finally bringing you proof that I have never left your side! 

You see me when you least expect it, when your mind is not quite fully engaged. I slip through the space in the “tween times” of your thoughts. I am there with you! "Oh Look!" you say, "He is Here!" 

You are in awe for the moment. You see me! You feel me!

She can balance on the high wire because she doesn't let her mind interfere with what is happening in this moment. 

Then you begin to look at yourself seeing me and feeling me and your mind kicks into gear. 

"Am I crazy?" "Is this really happening?"  

(Of course it is, it’s happening, isn’t it???)  

Very suddenly I begin to fade away. I fade because you question it, like Peter questioned walking on the water. I am fading in the very moment you are saying to yourself, “This can’t be happening.”  In the moment you are denying me. 

POOF!  I am gone. Gone again from your sight. Gone again until next time when maybe you have learned what you need to learn to connect with me in a whole new way.  When you have learned to grow through your grief enough to see that there is another way. A way that defies the limitations of earth. A way inspired by faith and trust. A way that's paved with your love for me. A way that makes that love more important than your fears. A way that brings you closer to the miracle that is heaven. A way that is the bridge. Don't you see? It's made of my love for you and your love for me. It's the bridge. It's the Rainbow Bridge. 

Read Book 1, "Reflections" where I will help you understand so that we can be together again. Our story is your story too. 
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This guy is learning! We are so proud of him! There is always a net beneath you when you take a risk. The balancing pole is your faith. The weights on the rope are those of us who are looking out for you. We want you to reach the other side so that we can be together; so that together we can build a bridge -- a rainbow bridge - across the canyon that divides us. 

Read Reflections on Life with my Master to work through your grief.
Read our book The Lizard from Rainbow Bridge to learn recognize the signs.

Can You Feel Us? We Speak To You Through Energy

Dear Jack, 

I've been told to look for "signs"... That my baby is still with me and he will come to me somehow to let me know...

The day Gotti gained his wings I had the vet come to the house. I wanted him to be comfortable in his own bed..the familiarity.. His appointment was scheduled for 6pm...  Last night my bedside clock stopped… This is a sign, is it not? 

Love,

Tina

When humans speak to one another they speak with their voices in words that they have defined.  Do you realize that the words people speak are just a small percentage of their communication? When you take away the voice, the speech, the words, there is still a great deal of communication taking place. The words are shaped in the mind; in the brain. The inspiration for speaking the words comes from the heart.  The heart is the true center of genuine communication and Love is the greatest inspiration in the universe.

You may not realize it but you are communicating with us all the time, even when you aren't speaking. We watch you. We hear you. We feel you.  We observe your body language. We look into your eyes. We watch your gestures and listen to your tone of voice.  These are more revealing than the words that you might speak.

"Like words that sound the same but are opposite, sometimes I couldn't tell if she was laughing or crying. They kind of seemed the same. I would have to look very carefully at her eyes and her mouth. I assessed the tilt of her head and her breathing pattern. I got good at deciphering her, but sometimes even when she was laughing, tears would come out of her eyes. Humans are strange that way. They live such a dichotomy." 
(Jack McAfghan: Reflections on Life with my Master, Chapter 29)

You can learn to understand us too.  We do not use words, but we communicate in very similar ways. We can't smile but we can wag our tail. We can't speak our joy in words but we can jump and squirm and wiggle when you come home from work.  You can get hot under the collar because you are angry. We can get hot under the collar too and we might growl when we feel that way.  Most of all, we speak from the heart. Our heart to yours.

After we cross Rainbow Bridge we are all magicians!  We can speak in amazing and unique ways by using the power of energy connected to tangible things. While some of you can pierce the "veil" between Heaven and Earth and see and hear and know things through the power of the psyche and intuition, we know that most of you can only sense things in the physical realm, if you are aware of us at all. So we find ways to reach you.  Clouds, rainbows, dreams.  Lots of times things that are associated with power and energy like lightbulbs, clocks, electronics and appliances.  Electricity is the closest thing on earth to what we become when we cross Rainbow Bridge. We are energy and electricity is energy so it's easiest for us to reach you through energy circuits.

Life between the worlds is much like the world of dreams. Get yourself a dream dictionary so you can refer to it when you see things in life on earth that get your attention. Metaphors and symbols are the universal language.  It's how we speak to you because we can't typically express through the spoken word (although sometimes we put you in a place where nearby people will speak the words we want to say to you --- or a book will fall off a shelf whose title is something we want to tell you).

You can learn to communicate with us if you can translate what you see into what we are telling you. You can learn to speak to us not only through your words, gestures and body language but also through your heart. It is through the heart that we see, hear and feel most clearly.  If you think you might have seen a sign from me, chances are you have -- or you wouldn't have even thought of signs from me. If you have goosebumps (the electricity of the skin) -- observe your thoughts and look around. It is probably me.  All of us in Heaven have a goose bump "signature" and you will learn to recognize mine.

Back to our Letter to Jack. What is Gotti saying to Tina through the stoppage of the clock?  Yes, 6:00 got her attention because that is the moment the vet had arrived to assist Gotti over Rainbow Bridge. "6:00" was designed to get Tina's attention so that she would share this with us so that we could teach her further how to read the signs.

Dear Tina, 
There is more to this than you realize. Look at the time. The minute hand stretches to Heaven. The hour hand points to Earth. The alarm is set for a time in the future... perhaps to let you know that you are not finished "sleeping" yet.

Love,

Jack

Pay attention to the signs.  Tina is tuned in.  This event might have come and gone with a wave of the hand or even a grumbled complaint that one needs to get a new battery for the clock. Be calm, still, attentive to the signs for they are everywhere.

I am everywhere. We are everywhere -- in constant contact with the ones we love.

ZIGGY: I Was Guided by My Angel Dog

In the fall of 2002 my wife and I were going through the beginning stages of a divorce and, as you can imagine, emotions were running high. I wasn’t sleeping well and had gotten up very early one Saturday morning with nothing much to do but finish the book I was reading. It was called, In the Company of Newfies and was written by a Newfoundland breeder named Rhoda Lerman.  It’s a great collection of stories about the author’s love of Newfoundlands. At the time I had the privilege of sharing life with a Bernese Mountain Dog I called Ziggy. As dogs can be, he was a constant companion who showed me the highest degree of unconditional love one could hope for. He was also a consummate comedian who could make me laugh out loud with s single look. Lerman describes in her book the life lessons she has learned from these amazing dogs. Her stories can move the reader from moments of tears to those of laughter in a heartbeat. Reading her book at that time in my life proved to be extremely therapeutic – almost as much as having Ziggy. I told him more than once that when I grow up I want to be just like him.  

In the Company of Newfies by Rhoda Lerman

Later that morning, once the sun came up I decided to drive over to the NYS Fair Grounds.  I had noticed in the morning paper that the AKC dog show was underway. I hoped to see the Berners showing. As I was walking around somewhat forlornly with my Big Dog tee shirt on, a woman approached me and told me I looked lost. She very kindly asked if she could help me. She had no idea how lost I was, but just told her I was looking for the Berners. She let me know they had already shown but the Newfies were starting soon and they were a close match. I told her that by coincidence (something I no longer believe in) that while I was more of a Berner fan, I had just finished reading a book about Newfies.  She asked me the name of the book so I told her and asked if she had ever heard of it. She said she had and in fact she was the author!! So there in front of me was Rhoda herself. I actually choked back a tear and resisted the temptation to throw my arms around her and give her a hug. Something to me she might not understand. I did however tell her how much her book meant to me and thanked her for introducing herself to me that morning.

So did Ziggy in his silent way direct my eyes to the article in the paper about the dog show? Or was it his inspiration that led me to wear a Big Dog tee shirt to the show, thus attracting Rhoda to approach me and introduce herself to me? I know I have my answer to those questions and I will let you decide for yourself.     

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jeff Crouse, Author

In everyday, ordinary life there are extraordinary things that happen. Journey through the stories provided by Jack McAfghan's readers, friends and guest contributors who remind us of the magic that happens when we love and care for a four-legged best friend. If you have a story to share that is 1000 words or less, please message us through this page or write us at Kate@KateMcGahan.com

  Personal photos to support the story are welcomed. We look forward to hearing from you.

Flowers Where There Were No Flowers

Have you ever been on a road or a path you have taken many times with your beloved best friend? After your friend has gone to Rainbow Bridge and you are working through your grief, we like to venture back and show you little surprises along the way. Some of you refuse to go back to those special places we shared because you are afraid of your tears and your grief, but we need you to go there. It's where we always went together and it's where we will always continue to go. Even though we are Gone From Your Sight. It's okay if you shed those tears. Tears must be shed to work through the grief. It's our only goal: to heal you, to comfort you, to help to make you happy again. It's all we want. We want you to believe in miracles! We have lots of opportunities to come to you because the rules are very different in the world of Heaven beyond Rainbow Bridge. Just like God created the world, POOF!, we are, each one of us, magicians in a world where scientific rules do not prevail.

Hi! That's Me Saying I Love You! What Cactus Flower Blooms in April??

If you've read my book "The Lizard from Rainbow Bridge", you know how signs and angels can show up in ordinary ways in your life. In our book, Lizard teaches you to recognize a sign when you see one. We can show up in extra-ordinary ways too!  Like shooting stars and funny metaphors. We especially like flowers because we know you like flowers and that you will notice them. Especially in places that are otherwise flower-less.

Kate and I made this path on the Wild Horse Mesa wilderness trail over the years of hiking there. There were never ever any wildflowers there. Just pine needles, juniper brush and red dirt. She eventually spread my ashes under the tiny juniper tree that you see in the photo. We had re-routed the trail to allow my friend the tree room to grow. The trail originally ran along the righthand side of the little tree... and it simply didn't have room to grow. Horses and travelers would graze by the tree each and every time so that it was becoming lopsided.

                     

So now she calls it Jack's Path. The first Spring after I made my passage to Rainbow Bridge, not only did purple four o'clocks pop up to the lefthand side of the path, but the daisies came up in the middle too. Here's the proof.

Jack's Path

By the way, my friend the tree is doing really well, growing balanced and strong now.
And so is Kate.

Love,
Kate

Jack's Sequel to be Released Soon!

A pet can never be replaced, but often our loved ones at Rainbow Bridge will lead us to the next best friend when the time is right. 

Jack's sequel, "Jack McAfghan: Return from Rainbow Bridge" is scheduled to be released this holiday season. One of the things he shares in our next book is how he brought Immy into our lives. In the meantime, his original book, "Jack McAfghan: Reflections on Life With My Master" will help you to process the grief and "The Lizard from Rainbow Bridge" helps you to recognize signs, angels and messengers when they present themselves in your life. They are there, all around you, if you will only open your eyes, your mind and your heart.  

"Jack McAfghan: Reflections on Life with my Master" is currently On Sale on Amazon Worldwide (US 9.99). Also available in Large Print and on Kindle. Give the best gift of all this holiday season; the gift of healing.    

www.facebook.com/MyJackofHearts

How Do We Tell The Children?

Oh Jack, 

I am terribly worried about how my children will deal with our dog Eddie's death. I'm concerned with how they will cope with it. My eldest is 7 and my youngest is 4. They both saw our Eddie's body before we buried him, so they both got to say goodbye to him. Later I read them the story of Rainbow Bridge, and they talk about it quite a lot. I think it has helped them come to terms with losing him. In fact, in some ways they seem to be coping better than I am. 

Love, Lydia

Dearest Lydia, 

Believe it or not, in the scheme of things, this is actually a great experience for your children. The people who have not experienced death directly when they were younger can be quite disabled when it happens when they are older.  It will not be long and you will see that you will all be better for having known and loved and "lost" Eddie! Eddie is giving your kids the tools they need to start building their ability to handle grief and loss in the future. It is an important tool to have in a world that brings loss the longer one lives.  

I am happy to report that most children have plenty of diversions and are endowed with a great "imagination"(well, you think it's their imagination, the "fantasy world" they seem to live in, but it's just the  memory they still retain of the world they knew before they came here).  Your kids are still young and the fact that this situation has been incorporated into the fabric of their childhood will be a positive thing for them. You handled the situation with sensitivity and care. You have done everything right.  

When human beings are born, they enter the world like us dogs do, We still have the memory of where we come from and where it's all leading (this life just teaches us and then takes us back to where we came from). Unfortunately, like us dogs, our babies cannot speak of it because they don't have language skills to do so (although many of them  cry cry cry because the world they have come from is so much sweeter and softer and more comfortable than the one they have been born into! The terrible twos, by the way, are just the final letting go as they realize that they will be staying here on earth for awhile and That's That!). 

Pets, as they grow, learn the rules from their master/owner/best friend. Children, as they grow, learn by copying the adults in their lives. Their parents and other family members and close friends are their role models. When your heart is pained because you see your young child crying, please keep this in mind. Often the underlying reason for the tears is that your child sees the adults crying and he is learning that this is the appropriate response to losing someone you love. It is more likely that he is copying or mimicking you than actually feeling the pain that causes tears.  He is learning the ropes of living life from you. The only way he knows how to live is to copy how you live.  Grieving aside, consider this in all that you do. The children are watching you all the time so that when they grow up to live their own lives they will know how to do it. 

Children can be much more resilient than adults. As time passes, however, the babies turn into toddlers, turn into children, and ultimately become adults. As they develop they get caught up in the learning of How Things Are Done Here On Earth.  This is why some of them have a very hard time in their teenage years. They still have a distant memory of the Way Things Are and yet the world around them drills into them, "No. That's not the way things work. You do it this way, not that way." They learn so much everywhere they turn -- at home--at school -- at work --- that they eventually incorporate the way they have been taught to live and they forget most of what they knew before they came here. This is why the concept of "death" is much harder to grasp when we are adults. We can't remember that Everything Is Okay, even death. The younger the child is, the more likely they are to know that their pet who has passed will be just fine. They still know that this life is just a dream. They haven’t forgotten this yet.

This planet earth is just a small part of the universal existence of life.  When our pets leave, they are returned to Paradise, Heaven, the Rainbow, ether, other plane,.. It doesn't matter what you call it; it's all the same thing. The children know this. Do not worry so about them and take care of yourselves. Let the children teach you what you need to remember.

"And a little child shall lead them." Isaiah 11:6

Love, Jack