>
> When an old friend died some years ago her family found the following among
> her effects and sent a copy to all her friends. It was written by Henry
> Scott Holland 1847-1918 and is entitled "All Is Well"
>
> I'd like to share it with you in hope that it helps some. It applies as well to a beloved pet as to a human loved one.
>
> "Death is nothing at all. It does not count. I have only slipped away into
> the next room. Nothing has happened. Everything remains exactly as it was.
>
> I am I, you are you, and the old life that we lived so fondly together is
> untouched, unchanged. Whatever we were to each other, that we are still.
>
> Call me by the old familiar name. Speak of me in the easy way which you
> always used. Put no difference into your tone. Wear no forced air of
> solemnity or sorrow, Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes that we
> enjoyed together. Play, smile, think of me, pray for me. Let my name be ever
> the household word that it always was.
>
> Let it be spoken without an effort, without the ghost of a shadow upon it.
> Life means all that it ever meant, It is the same as it ever was. There is
> absolute and unbroken continuity.
>
> What is this death but a negligible accident? Why should I be out of mind
> because I am out of sight? I am but waiting for you, for an interval,
> somewhere very near, just around the corner. All is well."
>
> With deep sympathy.
> Hank

>