How to Throw a Memorial Service for your Dog

Living on mission for Louis and I means we look for reasons to gather people together. We look for ANY reason to party, celebrate, honor, connect, and especially eat! I think we should party a lot more. It doesn’t have to be fancy, expensive or difficult. I’m not talking about the getting drunk kind of party. What I mean by partying is living a full and abundant life, a memorable life…meaning a life full of good people, good food, good memories.

Today, we had that kind of time as we gathered to party…to celebrate the life of one special dog ~ Wesley, a dog who was well-loved and loved well.

So…How do you throw a memorial service for your beloved dog???  Here’s what we did…

Yesterday, we threw a sign in the front yard, so our neighbors would know about our loss…

Earlier today, I texted some the neighborhood kids as a reminder.  Today at 2pm, for about an hour and a half, we gathered…

colored pictures of dogs and children with dogs (found by googling ‘dog coloring pages’)…

ate cupcakes with flowers, because a memorial service isn’t the same without flowers (and milk bones for the 4-legged guests!) (Sam’s Club totally comes through!)…

we talked about some of our favorite memories of Wesley…

and everyone left with a picture of Wesley.  If possible, it was a picture of themselves with Wesley. (I uploaded pictures to Walgreens.com this morning, used a coupon code; and we were picking them up an hour or so later!)

Louis read a comforting scripture from Isaiah 11:

6 In that day the wolf and the lamb will live together;
the leopard will lie down with the baby goat.
The calf and the yearling will be safe with the lion,
and a little child will lead them all.
7 The cow will graze near the bear.
The cub and the calf will lie down together.
The lion will eat hay like a cow.
8 The baby will play safely near the hole of a cobra.
Yes, a little child will put its hand in a nest of deadly snakes without harm.
9 Nothing will hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain,
for as the waters fill the sea,
so the earth will be filled with people who know the Lord.

We decided that if there are wolves, lambs, cubs, calves, cows, and more in heaven – there must be dogs, too! And we prayed together.

We ended our time together watching the video, which brought back lots of great memories of parties, halloween, dogs washes, back yard dog parks, and more! If you missed the video, you can catch it here…this woMan’s Best Friend. Some of us got teary again. And, that’s ok. Grieving is a process, no doubt.

Huge thanks to all who came; and a VERY special thanks to Otis and Banks who came to keep Bella company.  Here’s Banks!