SKYA BENWICK: A PAINFUL LOSS

 Skya Benwick (standing) playing with her brother Woody Benwick (on ground)

A very sweet little girl came into our lives and her ‘forever home’ through the American Brittany Rescue Association (ABR) a few years back. Her name was Skya. She had been rescued from a kill shelter by the ABR. Having been picked up off the street in terrible distress. She was thought to be about 9 years old at the time. Arriving with a seriously torn cruciate ligament, Bev (my wife) immediately put her through surgery and physical therapy. She can be viewed working through her therapy on YouTube. As a result, the quality of her life immediately and positively changed. She loved to run, play and smother her brother Woody (also an ABR rescue), Bev and I with absolute unconditional love. Sweet is an understatement when describing this little girl.

Skya quietly passed away on Wednesday, May 18th, 5:00 PM in our loving arms and hearts at the Village Park Animal Hospital in La Quinta, California. Everyyone who ever came in contact with our little girl adored her affectionate, endearing and playful way. She adored her brother Woody (another rescue from Montana who arrived within a week of Skya). Woody was always alertly protecting her. He too is greatly missing her.

It is truly difficult to share this without an enormous feeling of overwhelming loss. It is with the greatest of personal pleasure and pride that Skya ‘graduated’ from this life’s journey having had the last three years of her life being totally enveloped in love, with an intensity of caring that few of the world’s lonely and lost dogs will unfortunately ever have the good fortune to experience.

The following poem, so kindly sent to us by Nancy Vogel, Director of ABR in Nebraska, very much captures our true feelings and we would like to now share it with you. Thank you Nancy!

WE LOVED YOU BEST

So this is where we part, our dear friend
And you’ll run on, around the bend.
Gone from sight, but not from mind,
New pleasures there you’ll surely find.

We will go on, we’ll find the strength
Life measures quality, not its length
One long embrace before you leave,
Share one last look, before we grieve.

There are others, that much is true,
But they be they, and they aren’t you.
And we, fair, impartial, or so we thought
Will remember well all you’ve taught.

Your place we’ll hold, you will be missed,
The fur we stroked, the nose we kissed
And as you journey to your final rest,
Take with you this . . . we loved you best!

 - – - Kerri Fowlkes

Thank you for taking this moment out to read this short note from our hearts to the world about our sweet Skya. May she run, play and thoroughly enjoy herself with our other ‘life graduates’ on the ‘other side’. Take care!

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 4th, 2011 at 1:17 pm and is filed under Career Transitions, Emotional Intelligence, Leadership Transition, Personal Coaching. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.