09/13/2026
“In the Lakota/Sioux tradition, a person who is grieving is considered most waken, most holy. There’s a sense that when someone is struck by the sudden lightning of loss, he or she stands on the threshold of the spirit world. The prayers of those who grieve are considered especially strong, and it is proper to ask them for their help.
You might recall what it’s like to be with someone who has grieved deeply. The person has no layer of protection, nothing left to defend. The mystery is looking out through that person’s eyes. For the time being, he or she has accepted the reality of loss and has stopped clinging to the past or grasping at the future. In the groundless openness of sorrow, there is a wholeness of presence and a deep natural wisdom.”
[Tara Brach, True Refuge: Finding Peace and Freedom in Your Own Awakened Heart]
~ 🌺~ 🌺~ 🌺 ~
We released our beloved Lola on Friday.
Her body, marked by the deterioration of age, said it was time.
It is said that the only thing greater than love is loss. How much greater that loss when it is someone you loved completely.
The grief of her release comes in knowing that we will no longer be able to stand in her presence, a presence etched with a gentle intelligence.
It is in the grief of her movement forward into the spiritual, close on the heels of both Bellis & Birgit, that we find ourselves on the threshold of the spirit world.
A world marked by an intimate awareness of the present moment.
A moment now free of suffering.
A moment of quiet.
Of calm.
Of true stillness.
Her herd continues on quietly.
And, so will we.
And, so will she.
