Saturday

As I posted in the previous blog, here is a picture of Jordan and I dressed in our Halloween costumes at the airport to pick up Uncle Toni. Yes, he was surprised to see us!

This morning our day started in a very unexpected way. I was asleep upstairs with Jordan. Colten was in the backyard. I heard a blood-curdling scream, jumped out of bed, flew down the stairs and found Toni, flat on his back on our deck. He had slipped and fallen. He was in excruciating pain, his knee was swollen, and he couldn’t move. We called 911. The EMTs arrived, assessed him, and off to the hospital they went, suspecting he had a dislocated knee or possibly a break. Yikes. Not how I thought our day would go. Colten followed the ambulance, and I stayed back to watch the dogs. I had a long phone call with Kate, my best friend and Jordan’s godmother. It was wonderful, I cried a lot, but it felt good. I tried to do some chores as I received 30 minute text updates from the hospital. Our dear friend Barbara Carrellas arrived from New York City. I felt grateful to see her and just have someone acknowledge how crazy everything was. Then the FedEx man and the postal carrier arrived with two packages—a gorgeous bouquet of sunflowers from our friend Davis and a box of treats from Amelie. Two wonderful surprises! About an hour later, Colten returned with Toni in a knee brace and on crutches. Nothing is broken, luckily. A follow up with an orthopedic surgeon and an MRI will give us more information. We installed Toni on the couch and ate a late lunch. Jordan got to have ice cream (Frosty Paws ice cream for dogs) for dessert after dinner.

We had a call with Laura the animal communicator, and all four of us—me, Colten, Toni, and Barbara—were on the line. Jordan said she felt lighter, and she felt like she was sometimes not in her body. We wanted Laura to explain to Jordan what is going to happen tomorrow. Barbara has prepared a ritual for us to help Jordan cross over, and we’ve made an appointment with our vet to come to the house to assist Barbara. Tomorrow is a day with a lot of meaning. It’s Halloween. It is the Pagan holiday of Samhain (the Pagan New Year), which celebrates the end of the lighter half of the year and the beginning of the darker half of the year. Pagans believe that on Samhain the border between this world and the other world is the most thin, allowing spirits to easily pass through. It is my late father’s birthday (I know, I am the daughter of a man born on Halloween, go figure). It is also my Daddy’s birthday.

The call was wonderful. Jordan told Laura that Barbara brought magic with her. Barbara got to ask for her input in the ritual. Jordan reiterated that she was ready to go and felt a combination of deep sadness that she was leaving us and intense happiness at the life she has lived and the love that she feels around her. She said, “Mom, I am not going to leave you. It feels like it, but I am not going to. I promise mom. I feel happy I have a little bit of time left. I’m going to really enjoy it. I love you mom and dad. I love you.”

We all sat on the living room couch and Colten hooked up his laptop to the television. We watched a slide show Colten put together of hundreds of photos of Jordan. We told stories about the pictures and reminisced about all the amazing things we’ve done with her. We plan to put the slide show up on the blog this coming week. It’s really amazing. Not sure if we will blog tomorrow, but please check back for the slide show this coming week. Thank you all so much for your love and support. Your emails and comments are such a comfort to us and we are grateful for each one. If you’re awake tomorrow morning (East Coast time), please keep us all in your prayers and wish Jordan a smooth, positive transition.