Following the loss of my precious Oscar aka Bear, there were moments when the grief was so intense and the sense of despair overwhelming. I was broken in so many ways. As was Stanley.
Then Freida unexpectedly entered our lives.
Being only 8 months since losing Bear, I did not feel ready to bring another soul into our lives. Yet I was soon to understand just how profound her arrival would be in allowing us all to begin to heal.
Here’s why.
Her being has warmed mine. She is uncannily like Oscar in many ways, yet also very different in others. I look at that difference favourably as she is not Oscar, obviously, and nor do I want her to be. She is Freida, a beautiful, loving soul who exudes happiness. Her tail does not wag, it thuds. And alongside the thudding her entire back ends moves in rhythmic motion to the thudding.
She is gentle, sweet and all kinds of kooky, rolled into a bundle of wild boar coloured wiry fur. Like Bear, she adores affection, and will demand what we have now dubbed her face cuddles. She will climb onto my lap and nuzzle her head and nose against my cheek and remain that way for a number of minutes. If Im sad, she knows and she will simply bring herself close, allowing me to feel the rhythm of her gentle breathing. It is calming and beautiful. As is her being.
And whilst her presence has healed the intense pain of Bear’s loss, it is her effect upon Stanley’s well-being that is also profound. He too was immensely broken at losing his brother, soul mate and best friend. In the months following Bear’s passing, Stanley was lost. Freida found him.
Our little family is complete again. I still have moments when the tears flow with such intensity, yet in those moments, Freida will appear, nuzzle my face gently, and rest her warm, wiry body against mine.
stanley & bear 