As an animal communicator, dealing with death is something I do on a regular basis. I often talk to animal companions who are struggling with chronic illnesses or are elderly to help their humans understand their quality of life and whether they would like to continue to stick around on the planet. I also frequently speak with animals who have crossed over to help answer their human’s questions and to bring comfort to the loved ones they have left behind. I have been pleasantly surprised to find that I enjoy this work. It is an honor to help my clients make more informed decisions, to discover more about their animal’s purpose in their lives, to hear beautiful messages of love and gratitude and to help assure my clients that their animals are in a safe, happy place and bear no hard feelings about what their humans’ choices have been. They never do. Animals Don’t Fear Death It’s also comforting for my clients to learn that animals don’t fear death, because they understand it is not the end. Almost universally, those I talk to on the other side are free and happy. When I speak with animals about making choices about their lives, the information I receive may not be what their humans expect. Occasionally, an animal may be suffering more than their people understand, but sometimes, even though they are suffering, they want to remain on the Earth plane. The reasons vary. Sometimes an animal may feel that that they both need and want more time to complete lessons they signed up for to teach their humans. Sometimes it’s about really enjoying their life, despite the pain. One example that comes to mind is a horse that recently began to partner in equine facilitated healing with their human. They were approaching this new role with gusto, had been waiting for the opportunity for quite some time and were enjoying the heck out of it. Because of some personality traits, their person wasn’t sure they had the right stuff for the role, initially. It turned out that they were amazing at it, and their human was greatly enjoying it as well. Leo’s Story My darling Leo, a horse I had known at Pregnant Mare Rescue for many years and had moved to pasture living for the first time in his life had a similar mindset. It was a gorgeous eight acre pasture and he was with dear friends. Leo would go downhill and be uncertain about sticking around, but explain that he was having the time of his life and would want to wait. Then, the amazing Denna Stone (check out Denna’s Zen-ergized Equine) and I would work our behinds off to help him feel better. She would use her own substantial healing gifts as well as her deep understanding of how to help horses on the physical level to help him release pain and mobility challenges, while I would do numerous healing sessions as well, sometimes five or six days in a row for a couple of consecutive weeks. Leo would start to feel good again and would express his desire to continue living. We cycled like this for more than two years. Leo had the opportunity to live more of the life he loved so much and we had the opportunity to have more time with our beloved Leo. We shed many tears and enjoyed many blissful moments in his sacred company. The time finally came and Leo couldn’t do it anymore. He made his decision and was in great spirits. As we waited for the vet to come (bless you Natalie Broomhall, DVM, for your exquisite way of handling his final moments and loving Leo), he was cracking tons of jokes, quite a few that would be considered dark humor. Because I most often speak to animals to figure out what is wrong and how we can help, I had absolutely no idea how absolutely hilarious he was. And, it helped us immensely as we let him go. Stay tuned for Part 2. I am planning on discussing my own beloved Gabby/ aka Althea’s passing to help you understand how powerful connections can continue after your animal crosses over the Rainbow Bridge.