Grief is no stranger to me, nor is death.
Over the years, I have supported many of my clients through the grieving process.
And this week, I find myself in that same space.
Our beloved cat, who had been missing for some time last year, returned to us, and we discovered she had a heart condition. Things took a turn for the worse… and she died in my arms, surrounded by my family last Sunday. We created a small, beautiful ceremony and said farewell with love.It was deeply sacred, and absolutely devastating. It feels as though my heart is in a hundred million pieces.
The backstory is, she came to me before I even found her. I had dreams about her, and then we found her at the rescue center where we got our dog, Lemonade.
The connection I had with her, I have never experienced anything like it with another animal in this lifetime. I truly feel she was sent to expand my capacity to love.
For myself.
For my son.
For my partner.
It has been beautiful to witness how she quietly slipped into each of our hearts…and opened them wide. Grief is not something you get over, it is a process, a journey, and it is deeply personal.
It depends on the loss, on the relationship. Some may say, “it’s just a cat”, but it is never just that. Not for me.
Over the year and more recently, I have sat with mothers who have lost their babies, with a mother who lost her son, the loss of a mother and a sister. Grief is not simple, and it is not comparable.For me, the hardest part is the longing. The longing for more moments, more time, more of what was. A deep ache that wishes, even for a second, that it could be different.
And yet… There is something grief brings into sharp focus.
My takeaway is that this one precious life, I really employ you to live, to love, to make mistakes to fuck up, to do it messy and to just show up as you are.No one actually cares. Everybody is wrapped up in their own lives and their own stories and their own reality.
So you really want to do you best of your ability and the more you can do that consistently the more you can live life, fully. So you get to choose.
I have sat beside my mother as my father when they crossed over.
I have supported women as they have birthed life, and women as they have lost it.
And I can say this;
There is something about death that mirrors birth, the veil feels thin, the experience heightened. It is a profound transition and a privilege to witness.
Wherever you find yourself, in whichever season you are in as a woman, know that I am able to hold you in the intensity of it all.
I am here. To hold your hand.
Theoni