Always with me.
I believe I’ve always had a good relationship with death. Not that it isn’t a sad event for me, or that I don’t suffer terribly from the absence of those I’ve loved—quite the opposite. But I’ve always accepted the fact that life has an end. Living with animals from a very young age meant that I experienced the end of life often as a child. I clearly remember the death of my first cat when I was five, and before that, the death of my hamsters. Then, great-grandparents, a cousin when we were both very little, and some friends. But above all, I saw the end of my animals' lives. Many years ago, I began accompanying them in their passing, every time I could, when it was the right thing to do. Almost all of them crossed the door to infinity in my arms. And I call it the “door to infinity” because the whole “rainbow bridge” story makes my blood sugar spike. Especially given how the ladies on social media use it. You know the kind of comments: “Fly high on the rainbow bridge, little angel!!”—followed by a flood of broken-heart emojis, rainbows, and fluffy clouds. Gee. Death: that inevitable thing no one accepts, and about which you’re not…