She wears black. Always. As it turns out, death was not the end of her story. Chapter five.
Penny said “Mum had told me about a little notebook she called her ‘death book’ that she wrote in. It was a book imbued with spirit... some of that was probably brandy.”
“You know, I’ve never been able to grasp that in a time of deep grief people have to organise and decide so many things - when they can barely get out of bed! I am grateful to mum for taking that off my plate.”
In her book Penny’s mum wrote about what she would like for her funeral including flowers, hymns and who (and how long) should speak. “So, all I needed to do was rip out the first three pages. Like tearing out a small piece of someone’s heart - but in a good way.”
I was there and I was brightly dressed. As was Penny’s mother. The funeral was beautiful. Penny whispered to me afterwards “I had the little book in my pocket, and while I was saying my last goodbye to mum, the one thing I didn’t agonise over was hoping I had made the right choices. I knew it was what mum wanted and she would have loved it.”
As her friends gathered around for support, Penny got braver and read more of the little ‘death’ book.
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⚠️ DOGS DIE IN HOT CARS. If you love them, don't leave them. ⚠️
It's a message we share time and time again, and this year, we're calling on you to help us spread that message further.
Did you know that calls to SPCA about dogs left inside hot cars made up a whopping 11% of all welfare calls last summer? This is a completely preventable issue, and one which is causing hundreds of dogs (often loved pets) to suffer.
Here are some quick facts to share with the dog owners in your life:
👉 The temperature inside a car can heat to over 50°C in less than 15 minutes.
👉 Parking in the shade and cracking windows does little to help on a warm day. Dogs rely on panting to keep cool, which they can't do in a hot car.
👉 This puts dogs at a high risk of heatstroke - a serious condition for dogs, with a mortality rate between 39%-50%.
👉 It is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act to leave a dog in a hot vehicle if they are showing signs of heat stress. You can be fined, and prosecuted.
SPCA has created downloadable resources to help you spread the message even further. Posters, a flyer, and a social media tile can be downloaded from our website here: www.spca.nz...
We encourage you to use these - and ask your local businesses to display the posters if they can. Flyers can be kept in your car and handed out as needed.
This is a community problem, and one we cannot solve alone. Help us to prevent more tragedies this summer by sharing this post.
On behalf of the animals - thank you ❤️