These terra cotta figures can be found above the door of Watts Chapel, in the local cemetary in the nearby town of Compton. We just visited this special place on Sunday. There are fifteen heads that make up this arch… some with their eyes cast outwards, symbolizing hope and some with their eyes cast downwards, symbolizing grief.
My friend, Carol, lost her dog, Lucy, on Sunday.
I knew Lucy, too. Carol and Lucy were my neighbors when we all lived in New York. We used to go get cuban coffee at Rositas and then walk to Riverside park and Lucy would patrol the dog run while Carol and I drank our (absolutely fantastic) coffee and talked our hearts out. Those were good times.
Pearl was alive then, too. Of course she didn’t go to the park but she and Pumpkin were apartment cats who seemed happy enough to sit on my bed and watch the birds from the safety of my small apartment.
Carol used to cat-sit for me and I used to dog-sit for her.
Pearl and Pumpkin moved with me to England and saw me through such a big transition in my life.
Lucy moved with Carol to a new life outside of NYC and was steadfast and loyal to Carol through many ups and downs.
Just last week I found the small little pouch that holds Pearl’s ashes. They were sitting up on top of a cabinet, well out of sight. I took them upstairs and put them in my sock drawer. Now I see them every morning. For some reason I can’t bring myself to bury them, as I had planned.
I told another friend this story and she said that she knows a woman who has all of her cat’s ashes lined up on a shelf.
We love them so much and we grieve deeply when they’re gone.
Dragonlane Artisan Jewellery 
I have all my fur kid’s ashes on a special table in the bedroom. It’s funny, but that’s the only area I’m happy to dust, it’s like saying hello to them again.
So sweet. Thanks for this.
I have six cats and a dog lined up in little graves along my fence. I would have another dog out there, but she was way too big. I keep two photos of the one I didn’t bury out there on my desk. I miss every one of them.
Oh man – this is the agony of pet ownership. I’m keeping my eye on Pumpkin (as you can tell) because he’s such an old man and I’m just dreading losing him.
Thank you, dearest Kim. Lucy thanks you, too. She loved you like the true friend you were to her and the one you still are to me.