Thank you so much for those post that followed my last one. Your words, and stories are very helpful and sweet.

Today I laid my furbaby girl to rest. DD and I only have a very small amount of remains left from her cremation that we may put with some keepsakes and pics. I really thought about posting a pic of how she was returned to me from the service. I decided not to as I thought it might upset some ladies who had lost their beloveds.

I personally have never had any experience with cremation. I was not sure if the idea of having her remains would be gross is some way. How she was cared for was not. It was beautiful.

She was contained in three layers. A pretty glossy decorative box with paw prints, a beautiful velvet bag that made me sob... it read in gold stitched letters "Until we meet again at rainbow bridge"... thanks for sharing the poem with me beforehand btw, it was a happy sob... and then a sealed package with her ashes. Which were not gross at all. DS immediately exclaimed, "Mommy! She looks like the beach". It did. Very befitting for my water doggie. Plus, she made a paw print. Still had her lab snow storm fur marking it. That made me smile... her fur was EVERYWHERE! (labs shed a ton)

One of the owners does the pet cremations. And for some reason I started to worry if they would get the right dog, or how long she had to stay alone at the vet. The service knows the vet personally, and the lady went after her body before they closed. I told her I did not realize until after the fact that I could have viewed placement of her for cremation. Then it was too late. She commented that she was such a pretty dog by her fur etc. I felt assured then that they indeed did have it correct. I have no reason to believe otherwise. I guess I just felt like I needed to see her through first hand. But now, it's ok.

I told the lady that I would have like to burried her at home whole, and DS was especially uspet about this (DH said too many digging obstacles with wires, septic, sprinkler, etc.). She told me something that really worked out well. We could burry the ashes themselves in the yard, and some people do a living memorial... plant a tree, etc. (besides her watering hole fun place to free the ashes).

The children got their own form of closure by choosing their favorite play spot to put her. Of course I took her to her swimming spot as originally inteneded (that was very hard, but somewhat freeing). I found a rose bush to plant to rest her under. I wanted yellow for her coat. But season end selection is limited. I think the pic of this flower worked out even better. The yellow center caught my eye, but it's multicolor... like a rainbow. The color is called "Mardi Gras". I think it fits to celebrate her life.

Thanks for letting me share on the final proceedings. Now time towards healing.
Miranda