All posts tagged: Blessing of the Animals

Saying Goodbye to Lilly

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Lilly is our 13-year-old Sussex Spaniel.  We’re spending this weekend saying goodbye to her. On Friday we took her to the vet for a “Quality of Life” visit, and the news was what we’d feared for some time.  The slow-growing tumor is getting bigger, she has fluid that has swollen her belly, her breathing is labored, and she’s lost most of her appetite.  We had seen that Lilly could no longer navigate our stairs without help and that her hearing and eyesight had both deteriorated over the past few months.  She has some medicine to help her with the fluid and keep her out of pain, but… It is time.  It isn’t easy. Candice and I had promised Andrew and Claire a dog when they were old enough to help care for one and when we had a proper house (having lived in an apartment for our first two years in Washington).  When that time arrived more than nine years ago, Claire (who drove this process) did a lot of internet research and use to …

Lilly is blessed…and so are we

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Yesterday, on a beautiful fall afternoon perfect for the Feast Day of St. Francis, our Sussex Spaniel Lilly took a trip down to the Washington National Cathedral for the blessing of the animals.  Dean Sam Lloyd gave Lilly her annual blessing in front of the beautiful Gothic cathedral.  Since I was traveling, Claire reports that Lilly took it all in stride.  Of course, as an older dog Lilly sleeps a lot these days and takes just about everything in stride. The custom of blessing pets is conducted in remembrance of St. Francis’ love of animals.  It is great fun to join together with other owners of all manner of pets.  (I’ve even seen goldfish blessed in past years…not sure they felt the drops of holy water.) Shortly after posting this picture, Andrew told me there was a great Gene Weingarten article in today’s Washington Post Magazine called Something About Harry:  Old dogs…are the best dogs.  I read it and knew immediately I had to update this post to link to the article.  Because Weingarten (a writer Andrew …