>>> Updated every New Moon <<<July 10, 2002
Dear astrologyTOMORROWtoday (tm) Reader,
Many Happy Returns?
On Monday, July 1, 2002, Sharpei returned to me in a new body.
He came to me in the body of a moreorless four-month-old puppy
while I was returning from a walk with Boy and Plenty.
I recognized Sharpei almost immediately by his eyes and by his
response to my calling his name.
Normally, strange dogs would be frightened of Boy because of
his top dog aggressive presence.
But here was this little puppy adamant to get along with Boy
and Plenty.
In Sharpei’s last incarnation with me, he was a Pit Bull-Terrier
cross that looked more like a Chinese Sharpei-Bull Terrier cross.
He was tiger-striped like and after trying out a few names like
Tiger and Champion on him, we settled for calling him Baby
Sharpei.
After my youngest ‘baby’ left his body on January 7, 2002,
I pinned and yearned for him to be reborn as a stray dog since
that was the quickest, if not the only, way for me to be reunited
with him while I’m still in my present incarnation.
I just didn’t expect it to happen so soon after his ‘death’.
People who don’t believe in reincarnation and a soul’s many
lives will write me off as well, ‘off’.
I don’t care.
It’s not everyone who believes in the reincarnation theory who
gets a chance to experience the theory for real – in the same
lifetime.
What can I say?
Sharpei and I must have a real deep, abiding and meaningful
connection.
OPC thinks this is a one-in-a-billion (read BILLION) happening.
I always knew Sharpei was special and one-of-a-kind but even
I wouldn’t have said that he was one in a billion.
Rebirths happen all the time so that’s nothing special.
What IS special perhaps is that it happened so soon after his
last incarnation and while I am still experiencing the same
incarnation and therefore am able to be his Mummy more than
once in the same lifetime.
What is even more special is that we are both able to
recognize each other almost immediately.
Sharpei not only recognized me,
he was also able to recognize OPC and Auntie.
After Sharpei’s ‘death’ in January, a frog appeared and took
residence in a drain pipe in front of the house.
I found myself saying out loud: “Oh Sharpei, please let it not
be you. You know how Mummy cannot take to creepy-crawlies
and to slimy stuff. Mummy wouldn’t be able to hug and kiss
you in that state.”
It’s been about ten days now with the new Baby Sharpei and for
some reason, I’m comforted by the fact that the frog is still
around.
I tried calling Sharpei by a new name like Winner because Boy
showed some confusion and anxiety when I called him by his
old name.
However, he wouldn’t answer to any new name.
So he’s still called Sharpei.
Why Winner?
For two good reasons, I thought.
The first is that I felt like the old Sharpei was kind of a loser
since he had to be disciplined so much more than the other
‘children’.
Due to Boy’s constant bullying, he had to endure much until he
could endure no more.
As a result of which, they had to be physically separated at all
times and Sharpei had to go without the close proximity with
me that he constantly yearned for.
After Sharpei’s death from heart failure (he was over-weight),
I started the rest of the dogs on an exercise and diet regimen
and felt that Sharpei had to miss out on the outings and better
all-round mothering.
After Sharpei’s death, I became more neurotic as a Mummy
and devoted more and more resources on making sure the
remaining dogs were better cared for than during Sharpei’s time.
The second reason for calling him/her Winner is that although
I am more than 90% sure this new puppy is the old Sharpei,
there is still a 10% chance that this is not the old Sharpei.
If I’m mistaken, then this puppy is one hell of a winner for
finding herself in such a fortunate position.
As the days go by, this puppy is revealing more and more of
the old Sharpei’s traits and habits:
1. She (He) looks at me with those same dark, deep, black eyes.
2. She (He) is the only puppy I know who dips one or both
paws in the water bowl when he’s drinking from it.
3. She (He) loves to over-turn all the water bowls in the house
– the more, the merrier.
4. No matter what time of the A.M. she (he) wakes up, she (he)
wakes the household up at 5-5.30 A.M. by first barking only
one time several times and then scratching and pounding on
the room door.
5. She’s (He’s) familiar with her (his) old room, the entire
house and compound.
6. She’s (He’s) familiar with all the other dogs and they with
her (him).
7. Although now a female, because the last birth was as an
alpha male, she is very tomboyish, rough and tough.
8. As a male previously, Sharpei was constantly trying to ride
on his playmate Tau Tau even though she has been spayed.
Now, as a female puppy, she (he) is also constantly trying to
ride on Tau Tau.
9. As an alpha male previously, she (he) was feared and respected
by the other dogs, and it is as if she (he) thinks she (he) is
*still* this alpha male as she (he) goes about fearlessly
amongst the bigger dogs.
When the old Sharpei was about a year old, he was being
walked by OPC when they encountered a trained fighting dog
and its owner.
The two dogs got into a fierce fight and the trained (professional)
fighting dog lost the fight.
The owner was so impressed with Sharpei that he offered us
approximately US Five Thousand dollars for him.
When we declined, he tried to persuade us to allow Sharpei to
participate in dogfights for a 50-50 split of the bets.
He told us our share of the takings could easily come up to
US $20,000.
Needless to say, I was horrified with the proposal of subjecting
my ‘baby’ to such a fate.
Even the idea of dogfights repulses me.
When Sharpei got into a fight with a neighborhood dog once,
I freaked out.
And when Sharpei and Boy went at each other, I became
hysterical.
This is a good time to share that I get real upset with people
who are cruel to animals.
Why can’t they just let them be?
We humans don’t own these animals in the sense that we can
do what we want with them.
We are here to learn how to share space with them and to
participate in a mutually progressive give and take relationship
whenever possible.
We are here to experience the best in each other.
After Sharpei’s death in January 2002, I kept on talking to him
and telling him how much he was missed.
I kept asking for a second chance to be there for him.
I even dreamed that I stumbled upon him in the porch of a
stranger’s house.
Little could I have realized then, that around the time of the dream,
Sharpei had probably been born at the house.
He must have waited until he was strong enough to come looking
for me.
When I found him, he was clean and healthy, not at all like most
strays - puppies or adults.
He is also choosy about his food – another sign that he was well
looked after before he came looking for me.
Sharpei now is a female since I requested that he be one if he is
to be tolerated by Boy around the house.
He (She) now looks like a German Shepherd (Alsation) mix.
It’s been only about ten days so I’m continuing on this journey of
discovery.
Will write more about this adventure when I have more to say or
when the time is right.
Please read related write-ups:Life *Is* For The Living: May 12, 2002
Do Dogs Have Souls?: Apr. 13, 2002
Chi-Chi left us on Sept. 6, 2000The Meaning Of Life: Apr. 23, 2001
When You Love Someone, You Have To Let Them Go: Aug. 19, 1998
For Now, :)
mEinah@astrologyTOMORROWtoday.com
