Recently Lynnea Forness of Minneapolis reminded me of the animal communication I had with Meshke, her almost 11-year old lab, the final days of his life in 2010. I asked him, “Who would you like to say goodbye to?”

Meshke said, “I want to say goodbye to Lynnea parents but I know it would be too difficult for them. They can’t travel to me and it would be too hard for me to see them. So I will say goodbye to them somehow. Maybe when they are sleeping I will visit them and make it easier.”

With tears brimming in her eyes, Lynnea told me that after Meshke died he visited her mother. Lynnea never told her mother about the animal communications because her mother would not believe it.

Lynnea and her mother were with her father in the hospital when the doctor referred them to a palliative care nurse. With great kindness the nurse informed them that it was time to consider hospice care. That night they shared the information with Lynnea’s siblings and they all agreed this was what their father would want.

The following morning her mother told Lynnea that Meshke had visited her during the night. She could feel his weight on her bed. She said that after his visit, she knew everything would be all right. She woke up stroking the bed where Meshke was lying.

Animals find ways to tell their loved ones goodbye even from the other side of Rainbow Bridge.