My Morning thoughts on Molly
Molly on a walk around the base of Slievenamon on the 20/11/2015
As many friends here know over the last three years I have been using my blog pages to share my Landscape photos, I am not sure if people realize that these posts were always more about shared walks for me and Molly our female golden retriever, deep into the Irish landscape and then using photos to recording these adventures , she was not always in every post or in all the landscape photos but she was always there alongside me.
This leaves a great legacy to Molly who sadly died peacefully last weekend, she was there with me for well over 1000 blog posts going back many years , this is however going to make the next few weeks and months so very hard in many ways, when returning to these places without her and I am a lot worried that as such my life has changed so much overnight.
I had a feeling after my last post yesterday that it could be taken as a goodbye to Molly but that could never be because she was with me for 12 years everyday and as such a goodbye would be simply impossible anyway!!!.
I see these moments and days into the future much more as a transition for her and me – YES!!! its a huge one but it was always going to be !!!.
She will always be with me and I can and have to find a way of embracing that !!!!
I have to grasp what has happened because I have to keep doing all the things we did together, the walks and all the visits to so many if not all the locations that I love around me, just like she did !!!
At the moment I am finding it almost impossible to go to any of these places, so I am house bound, I know sooner rather than later I have to get out and walking again otherwise my entire life has change to much!!
I found this great web page last night on these exact feeling I am having,
“Given the intense bond most of us share with our animals, it’s natural to feel devastated by feelings of grief and sadness when a pet dies. While some people may not understand the depth of feeling you had for your pet, you should never feel guilty or ashamed about grieving for an animal friend. Instead, use these healthy ways to cope with the loss, comfort yourself and others, and begin the process” More….
and gave it a good read, its very good as are so many pages of this topic 🙂
The experience of molly’s death at the weekend was peaceful for her but traumatic to be very honest for us, we were fully involved with her life right to the very last second of it and I am so pleased with this being the case, but OMG it’s hard in these days and hours since then !!!
The picture above was taken only on the 20/11/2015 and as you can see she was very healthy, slower with her age but for her age she was very good.
I do have that fact to hold on to.
I want to share these thoughts here because like I say Molly always had a massive place here over the years and she still does, its going to be very hard to work-out how to deal with her involvement into the future, I do however feel that she has one as I could not step out of the door at the moment with my camera, without feeling she is still here with me !!!
I love the Irish landscape so much though , so this blog does not stop here !!!!!!
A post just For you MOLLY !!!!
Nigel Borrington 
That’s a sad message, Nigel. She was somehow part of your blog. I’ll miss her too. I once had a friend like Molly. In January I did a post on him. I had walked the track in the woods of Lochem, we always used to walk, again after many years. He was with me. Keep walking! All the best.
December 8, 2015 at 11:56 am
Thank you so much , I will find away to yes..
Thank you for sharing your own times with your dog , that’s a great help and great to think of you two together 🙂 🙂 🙂
December 8, 2015 at 12:03 pm
May the beautiful memories shared with Molly live forever with you.
December 8, 2015 at 2:44 pm
Thank you Eddie , thats a very helpful and welcome thing to say !! 🙂
December 8, 2015 at 3:32 pm
Losing the daily love of such a loyal companion is a huge grief, may her spirit be present with you on your walks, always.
December 8, 2015 at 3:24 pm
Thank you Ian , that is such a great thing to say and of great help – thank you 🙂
December 8, 2015 at 3:28 pm
It’s sad to hear that, Nigel. I can understand very well, because our dog is sick now (11 years) and we are thinking her all the time… when is her time to leave? But walking alone is better than not to walk.
December 8, 2015 at 3:56 pm
Hi Pike 🙂
I am so sorry to here that , they bring so much and give so much to us everyday , when they are sick you feel so much for them and just want to love them twice as much as ever !!!
I really hope she gets better soon 🙂
I will keep getting out yes !! for the moment the big space left beside me would be to much by myself, I will fill that with some friend and we have each other also .
I may start to help friends by looking after and walking their dogs, I can think of some already !!!
Thank you xxxxx
December 8, 2015 at 4:48 pm
I appreciate your idea to help walking dogs!
December 9, 2015 at 9:47 am
🙂 🙂 😉
December 9, 2015 at 10:19 pm
It’s not something you think about, but the main “trouble” with dogs is that they just don’t stick around long enough. Which always makes it seem that the companionship was cut unmercifully short. By the time my 20-year-old cat was ready to go I was quite prepared for it. But it’s never like that with a dog. When you have accepted Molly’s absence, however long that may take, I hope you choose another dog to follow in her stellar footsteps with you.
December 8, 2015 at 4:31 pm
Hello Alli 🙂
This is a lovely comment and made me smile , thank you, yes way to early at the moment for the last point but I love dogs so much and I have not finished being able to give to them yet that’s for sure 🙂 🙂 , its a little to early to talk about that in the house also but , well there is plenty love to still give here for sure !!!
Form the moment I think helping friend with their dogs is one option I feel a little more happy with 🙂 🙂
Lovely comment 🙂 thank you 🙂
December 8, 2015 at 4:56 pm
My thoughts and prayers are with you during this difficult time. Molly has given you her last gift of love: the precious memories of being a part of your family. What a joy to have been given the privilege of Molly’s friendship and loyalty. ““Dogs are our link to paradise. They don’t know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring–it was peace.”
Milan Kundera
December 9, 2015 at 7:06 am
Hi Rebecca , thank you so much xx
You message was so great to read and I really appreciate it , you have captured exactly how I always felt when out with molly on the hill sides , 🙂 😉
December 9, 2015 at 10:18 pm
Thinking of you especially today, my dear friend.
December 10, 2015 at 7:11 am
So sorry to hear of your loss, I lost my 16 year old pooch back in September and still have a Boris shaped hole in my heart, I occasionally still find myself calling him in with our other dog and it took me weeks to remove his bowl, the fact is as much as it hurt to lose him I would not change one single thing about our time together, at some point yes another dog to share the love with becomes an option but it is more a legacy of the love they teach us we have then any idea that one can be replaced by another. I am sure Molly’s lasting legacy along with the photos will be that another dog finds a loving home 😀
December 9, 2015 at 11:54 am
Hello Puala xx
Thank you so much for sharing your own story 🙂
I am sorry you loss such a great friend , I know so well the feelings about the bowls , it is so hard to not be able to fill molly’s and caller her 😦
I also get the feeling of the tap that they turn on in use for them , its very individual to them and very personal for me towards molly, over the years you know every bit of them just like they know use so very well, from the time we wake up to the second we get the lead ready 🙂
I truly love this about their nature 🙂
I feel that friends and other family dogs well get sometime with me next year and them maybe one day I will be ready to fall all over again.
Thank you for lovely message xxx
December 9, 2015 at 10:50 pm
Sorry to hear of your loss. This post is great tribute.
December 10, 2015 at 1:09 am
Thank you Victor 🙂 🙂
December 10, 2015 at 7:27 am
So sorry. X
December 10, 2015 at 11:22 am
Hello Elaine , thank you 🙂 🙂
December 10, 2015 at 10:53 pm
Oh Nigel!!!! I feel so sorry for you!!!! I think I can understand your feelings very well…I do not even want to think about Sigh´s and Neo´s last day….It is going to be terrible for me and my husband…. It is incredible how we feel the bond with animals, isn´t it? At least it was peaceful….
A big hug …
December 10, 2015 at 8:49 pm
Thank you so much xxx
Each day is a little , little easer but it will take a Good while 😦
I know how much you love them both and just how much love comes back :), its a relationship that grows so deep and always seems fresh every morning 🙂
I now feel because we worked on building very closely with molly that once this pain has faided we will have so much fun to remember, this after all was what she was all about – fun everyday in as many places as possible and as often as she had our time and attention, 🙂 🙂
I think they could teach us all so much about making the most of life…..
Thank you and give both your doggy’s a huge hug from me !!!
December 10, 2015 at 11:17 pm
So sorry to hear of your loss. Molly was indeed a gorgeous dog and she has left a legacy of so many precious memories.
December 15, 2015 at 4:37 pm
Thanks Nigel. Well that brought a lump to the throat! And your reference to Slirvenamon added a dimension for me as I was there recently visiting my dads grave. Regards Thom.
December 20, 2015 at 7:09 pm