An Angel in the Woods

Our home perches on a ledge over the Blackwater River, a rock ledge with very old, very tall trees. Looking down, we see the river as it flows by. On the other side of the river, a lush green field rises up towards the Blue Ridge Mountains, providing a home for Black Angus cattle, an occasional deer, and wild turkeys in flocks of as many as 35 or 40.

Before the ledge drops away down to the river, there is a natural alcove, rising like a small cathedral and padded by a soft pale green fern-like ground cover. Inside the alcove stands a 4 foot tall statue of a praying angel, looking down sweetly on a river rock-lined flower bed. Every year, I plant shade-loving white flowers in the flower bed, after I’ve cleaned it up from the year before.

This is my Lhasa Apso’s resting place after filling my heart with love for 16 years. Muffie had lost her eyesight and resorted to curling up on my feet when I was in the kitchen at the cutting board, so she knew exactly where I was all the time. Her kidneys were failing as well, and when she began her rapid decline, we knew it was time to ease her into another world, one where she could still run and jump and see the wild rabbits scampering into the woods.

When we buried her in her grave-garden, I would wake at night, upset that she was out there in the dark, all alone. I found the praying angel at a local garden center and got hubby to install a steel rod inside to anchor her to the spot. It was he who found the round river rock to line the flower bed. And it was he who turned the spotlight in our house eaves so a soft white light played on the alcove during the night. Since then, we can look out at night and feel comfortable that Muffie has light, and flowers, and an angel looking over her above the river and in the trees.