What Matters…
My family recently lost one of the best people I’ve ever known. It’s the first time in this life that I’ve been faced with death and loss this heavy. In the midst of this heartache, two thoughts have been standing out for me…
The first…that there is nothing more important in this life than the people we care about. Because we will lose them. Whether death takes them from us or us from them. There is no escaping the fact that life on this planet ends there for everyone. And we will ALWAYS wish we’d had more time with them. We spend so much of our lives busy in our work or other distractions that it can seem like a burden or a nuisance to slow down and make time to just be with people. I am seeing now how important it is to do just that. Because, in the end, whether you’re at someone’s bedside or you’re in that bed yourself, the ONLY thing that brings comfort is the people around you and knowing that you loved and are loved!!
Second…NOTHING matters so much that we need to stress the way we do in life! When we are all done and looking back over our lives we will not be stressing or worrying over the things we do now. Who cares if the house is clean? Or we don’t make the money we wish we did? Or if someone cuts us off in traffic? It doesn’t matter. We put way too much weight on the little annoyances in life. It’s not worth our time to give energy to that stuff! Those things are not what we’ll remember when we’re on our death bed. We should be putting more stock in the things that bring us joy! And letting go of the things that don’t go our way. Stress is a waste of time and isn’t what will be with us at the end. Make good strong happy memories instead!
This loss and the feelings around it have really reiterated for me what my true purpose as a person and a business owner have come to be…
I believe our pets have been given to us to remind us how to live! Unfortunately, sometimes that’s not enough. Sometimes, we have to be shaken by trauma or loss of some kind before we truly understand what matters. But through it all, our pets are there. Just being. Just loving. They offer guidance for a happy life if we’ll just pay attention!
Pawmasté is my attempt at saying “thank you” to our animals for being our guiding lights! They deserve to be treasured, honored, and treated with the very best love and care we can muster!
Pawmasté is also my attempt to remind us of what’s most important in life. Each other!!
In honor of my aunt, Rena M. Romero-Hartigan, and in honor of what an inspiration her life and death have been to me, I am starting an annual Easter fundraiser for the Mass General Cancer Center! Everyone who donates will receive a raffle ticket for the chance to win a $100 Pawmasté gift card to thank your pet for being part of your life!
All my love and light,
LIZ🐾💕🌎