LOSING LILY

How the tragic loss of a Special Scotty girl led us into a new career path.

Time has a funny way of distorting itself when it comes to grief. It seems like only yesterday that we lost our Lily -Cleescot My Fair Lady.

We had arrived home triumphant and happy after the Scottish Terrier Club Championship show at KCC Park. The only small cloud on the horizon was that Lily, our brightest and happiest girl, was a bit down – we attributed this to ‘boat-lag’ and kept an eye on her.

Naturally we took her to the Vet as soon as possible, who prescribed antibiotics and masses of TLC. However by the next morning her situation was dire and we rushed her back in.

Despite everyone’s valiant efforts she passed away suddenly and painfully.

She had been such a special baby not only for us, but also to the puppy-walking family with whom she had lived with for the first 12 months of her life. I couldn’t ring them to tell them and so I sent them a card. They responded by arriving at our home to visit Lily’s grave, bearing all manner of yellow gifts – a yellow flowering shrub, a yellow toy and bunches of yellow flowers. (Lily had a fascination for anything yellow.)

We comemmorated her life with fond stories and shed many tears.

It was only after this day, that Greg and I asked ourselves, “Who cares for other people when they have to face this loss?” The only solace we had found in this whole sorry situation was the comfort that Lily was buried in a beautiful place where those who loved her could visit her at any time. “But what do other people do?”, we wondered.

Our research led us to the discovery that Hobart was the only capital city in Australia that did not have the asset of a beautiful Pet Cemetery. On the internet we saw wonderfully uplifting and beautiful Memorial Gardens in many Aussie states and in countries overseas. So we decided to investigate the possibility of providing a service worthy of people’s beloved pets here in Tasmania.

The result, eight years on, is Pets At Rest, Memorial Gardens.

We set aside 2 hectares of land in Orielton for the Pets Memorial Native Gardens and obtained zoning permission for it to be used as a place to honour our much-loved pets. Each pet’s grave has a native tree with a memorial marker and engraved nameplate.

We offer a service, which in everyway equals, or betters, the service we expect for people. The range of services we offer includes cremation, memorial trees or a graveside farewell. Every one of our clients knows that we understand their grief and that it’s natural and healthy to grieve over a beloved pet.

“How can you bear to face these grief stricken people?” we are often asked, the answer is simple, we understand. We know from personal experience that years after you have lost a beloved Pet – you cry because you see their expression looking out at you from the face of another generation. You do not think them to be mad when they tell you that there is a spot beside the heater where no other dog has ever sat – because they know it was her special spot.