QuoteDaily quotes at EcoSalon.

Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness.

- Maya Angelou

image: Theoddnote

Forever etched in my mind is the painful scene in Marley and Me when the cherished family lab is put to sleep on a vet’s table with his devoted sidekick nestled beside him. I saw the tear jerker with my extended L.A. family during a winter vacation and was moved by the chorus of sobs from siblings and cousins who are raising dogs and horses instead of children.

Sadly, I relived the Marley death scene this week when I put my my 16-year-old glamor puss, Audrey, to sleep.

My family gathered around her on the hospital table, hands on her bony five-pound body as her asparagus green eyes slowly lost focus and she drifted onto her next life. Karma might let her come back as a pug dog that is incessantly bossed around by a Grizabella. Karma might return her as a doomed house fly on a window sill tormented during a hunt. Or better yet, as a new bride loved unconditionally by a cuddly and playful fur ball.

Edwin and I adopted Audrey from the San Francisco SPCA right after getting married, plucking the marbled gray tabby from a box of foster kittens just delivered to the shelter. The moment my husband picked her up and put her close to his ear, she purred like a mad freight train; like no one’s business. “This is a good one,” he proclaimed. And she was, from her early days in a concrete Russian Hill flat to her final years in the grassy suburbs.

Last week, the purring stopped for the first time. Nothing. And I knew – they purr for pleasure and it takes energy. She couldn’t eat. She could hardly walk. The kidney disease had progressed and in vital ways, she was already gone. So I made that excruciating decision, and now I miss the loud meowing alarm that stirred me each morning and alerted me to meal or hug time. There is a deep hole in my heart and an empty, cold spot on my bed.

In the backyard, where we have buried countless goldfish and a pair of hamsters, there is a vintage ceramic cat doorstop marking the mound where Audrey Jane rests. My daughters decorated an organic cotton pillowcase to use as a shroud, and it was something, the sweet epithets penned, the sun and flowers scrawled. It offered closure but the pain and guilt still lingers.

It is hard to forgive yourself for choosing death for another being; any being that deserved life. That’s why humane organizations like the SPCA offer counseling to support people grieving the loss of a pet.

There was no sequel to Marley and Me offering tips on coping, so we depend on the wisdom of health care pros to guide us along that path to letting go. Pet euthanasia specialist, Hilary Brown, says our animals don’t consciously convey to us it is time to put them out of their misery, and that we must go with out instincts and understand that we are actually giving our terminally ill pets the “ultimate gift” in setting them free.

“From the moment we embrace these animals when they first grace our lives, every day is one day closer to the day they must abandon their very temporary and faulty bodies and return to the state of total perfection and rapture they have always deserved,” says Brown. Today is a good day, perhaps tomorrow will be, too, and perhaps next week and the weeks of months after. But there will eventually be a winding down and we must not let that part of the cycle become our enemy.”

Brown also offers a compassionate perspective when it comes to supporting our vets who have chosen a career of healing and must be the one to inject what she terms the “freedom elixir”.

“I always place my hand on top of his hand that holds the syringe,” Brown explains. “I want to shoulder that burden with him so he’s not alone. The law says the vet is the one licensed to administer the shot, not me, but a much higher law says this is the responsibility that I undertook on the day I welcomed that pet into my life forever.”

One could argue the responsibility isn’t anything compared to deciding to end life support for a failing, one-pound preemie infant or to call a Dr. Kevorkian when a terminally ill parent requests an end to intervention. But I say it’s all relative. And for some, cats and dogs make the best relatives of all.

Images: IMDB, Luanne Bradley

Who would have thought that digging in the dirt could be good for the soul? According to a study by Dianne Relf of Virginia Tech University, “A view of trees may reduce the recovery time in the hospital after surgery by almost a full day. Forty percent of Americans find that being around plants makes them feel calm and more relaxed, a particularly valuable attribute in cities today.

Therapeutic gardening has become a method of recovery, both physical and mental, for Alzheimer’s patients, the physically handicapped, injured or ill patients, and troubled or abused children. According to the Methodist Respite Care Center in Williamsburg, VA, “All [of their therapeutic] projects use gardening and horticultural activities to improve physical health, mental health, expand recreational options and generally improve one’s health and well-being.” This method of therapy is reported to reduce stress, stimulate the senses, and creates bonds with nature and other people.

Brightly colored annuals, such as marigolds, impatiens and cosmos, are a few flowers of choice in therapeutic gardening to provide a sensory experience for patients. Vegetable and herb gardens are also planted and tended to add taste and scent to the experience.

Participants have the pleasure of tasting the “fruits of their labor,” plucked straight off the vine, or can take home fresh, fragrant herbs to cook with.

All in all, this new form of therapy provides a cost-effective, relaxing, and sociable way to improve health for many people, while providing volunteer positions for gardening enthusiasts who desire to give back to their communities.

Article by Emily Wallace for DivineCaroline. First published March 2010.

Related DivineCaroline posts:

• Living a Sensual Life Through Farming
• The Taste of Summer: Tips for Growing Delicious Tomatoes
• Blades of Glory: Tips for Growing a Lusher Lawn

Image: Rich Legg

You drop a plate on the floor – crack! Your tights ladder when you’re putting them on. Your bicycle tire starts emitting a sad little whine. Paintwork gets scratched, shoes leak, cloths fray and holes appear where you least want them – often the prelude to a poignant, reluctant parting of ways. Wouldn’t it be nice if things fixed themselves?

Enter the exciting new world of self-healing. Far from a feelgood slogan or an eyebrow-raising euphemism (ahem), it’s the scientific development of non-living materials that act like biological systems to repair themselves.

Last year we were stunned by the unveiling of a type of rubber with unusually densely-packed chemical bonds. Cut it into two pieces, push them back together, and these bonds latch together just as tightly as in the original piece. In other words, it heals perfectly (and perfectly green). Just imagine if your tights were made from a similar material – you won’t be the first to.

But the most exciting new materials are those modeled on biological vascular systems. The way our bodies heal is truly amazing – and something like a simple grazed elbow can be the start of a process so thrifty, clever and dazzlingly effective that it makes plastic surgery look like strip-mining.

There’s much we can learn – and we’ve already started looking at new materials that are laced with microcapsules containing healing agents. If a break forms, these capsules rupture and the “wound” is flooded with substances that repair the damage. Astounding. And just when we think we’ve got our heads around all this Nature-copying wizardry…along comes a type of paint with scratches that heal in the sun.

In the drive to make everyone look twice at what they’re throwing away, products that continually look and work as good as new would be a priceless resource – and go a long way towards healing our broken relationship with our possessions.

Image: djeucalyptus

You’ve seen animals licking their wounds. And maybe the first thing you do when you cut your finger is put it in your mouth and suck on it for a moment. It turns out these instinctive urges have good reason: scientists in the Netherlands have isolated a compound in human saliva that not only kills bacteria but actually promotes healing. This would explain why oral wounds like tooth extractions and tongue piercings heal so quickly. It’s nurture, by nature.

The scientists hope to synthesize this compound and use it to help hard-to-heal wounds like diabetic ulcers and burn traumas. But remember, you’ve got your own anti-bacterial and healing compounds right there in your mouth, so if you’re caught somewhere without a first aid kit – just spit!

Accidentally shot at the age of 9 and paralyzed from the waist down, Chanda Hinton didn’t let her disabilities stop her from participating in activities with friends throughout her school years. But in college, she began to experience chronic pain. The best her physician could do was prescribe narcotic painkillers, which only caused Chanda depression, severe weight loss and substance dependence.

Through the advice of her sister, Chanda tried alternative therapies such as acupuncture, massage and dietary changes. She regained her weight and health and her self-esteem improved dramatically. Her own journey to wellness ignited a spark and she decided to help other disabled people access alternative and complementary therapies, as well.

At the age of 26, Chanda started her own nonprofit, the Chanda Plan Foundation, which helps distribute funds to those who need them so they can choose their own complementary health care practitioners. She’s even been lobbying for Medicaid approval of alternative therapies and wants to start an education center for physicians so they, too, can understand just how complementary these alternative therapies can be.

Image: russell.bride