All Souls

The call of death is a call of love. Death can be sweet if we answer it in the affirmative, if we accept it as one of the great eternal forms of life and transformation.
-Hermann Hesse

That's a quote from my daughter Jenna's favorite author.  I like it because it seems to take away the negative aspect of death and celebrate the positive.  And that's how I choose to think of it.

Today is All Souls Day, which follows on the heels of All Saints Day.  Try not to confuse one with the other.  All saints might be souls, but all souls are likely not saints.  I could be wrong, though.

I like to think about souls.  For all my adult life, I have wondered if everyone has a soul, because, frankly, it often seems that there are people who don't.  I think that I have a soul.  And I think that it has lived other lives and that it will live future lives.  That may sound simplistic, but what's wrong with sounding simplistic?  It doesn't have to be complicated to be believed.

When talking about my beloved Golden Retriever, Mack, whom I had to put down nearly a year ago, I have often said, "He wasn't a dog.  He was a soul."  And I whole-heartedly believe that.  Those of you who have loved and been loved by a pet know what I am talking about.  There is no doubt in my mind that Mack and I have crossed paths before, in other lives, in other worlds.  Which reminds me of one of the worst experiences of my childhood

I think I was in seventh grade when my parents made the decision to euthanize my German Shepherd, Nikki, claiming that she was too aggressive.  As a child, I could not understand their reasoning (although as an adult, I get it), and all I knew was that my beloved dog was gone.  I asked my priest, Father Scerbo, if dogs went to heaven.

He scoffed at me.  He made me feel like a fool.  He told me, "No."  I wrote a letter to the Pope (which was never answered) and remained troubled by this for a very long time.  Well, enough time has passed that I can now say, "Screw you, Father Scerbo!" and not feel the slightest remorse.

Anyway, back to the topic.  Today is All Souls Day.  I am celebrating my grandmother, my parents, my husband, my best girlfriends, and my dogs and cats.  I am in love with you all.