It was 7:15 pm when I slowly trudged up the stairs to my bedroom and collapsed on the bed. Mike and the kids were cleaning up the dinner dishes. After a long pre-Christmas week, I felt exhausted. I desperately needed to rest.

Behind the closed-door I considered wrapping a gift or two, but never did. The door squeaked and Harry, having pushed it open with his nose, trotted in. My trusty companion, he always knows when I need those soft floppy ears to rub. Turning on my side, I gazed into his big brown eyes and smiled.

All animals are truly earth angels, Harry just happens to be my guiding light. Understanding his limitations around the bed, he is content to lay his head at the edge while his body remains firmly planted on the floor. My hands make their way under his chin, around his face, and eventually come to rest on the top of his head. He closes his eyes and I close mine. Very little time passes before I notice that Harry has left the immediate bedside and is now laying on the big stuffed dog next to my closet.  Purchased on a whim by Mike for our children to use as a floor cushion a year before Harry came into our lives, I believe it was a foreshadowing of the loving puppy that was to eventually make it his nighttime companion.

Our kiwicat, Smudge was the next to arrive in my room. Having slept with me ever since she was a small kitten in Auckland, Smudge nudged her way into the grove between my arm and my body as she has on so many occasions. Her soft chocolate-colored face, and twinkling green eyes tell me that she’s very much up for an extended cuddle. This one has been my earth angel for fifteen years now. Having come into my life on the heels of the passing of a beloved animal companion, Smudge had her work cut out for her to wiggle her way into my heart. That she did, and I am forever thankful for her tenacity and genuine love.

Read’s presence was felt there on the bed too. Having been a rescue cat, she was timid, yet loving; aloof, yet always near. One May morning, while I was away recovering from the transplant, Read,  a constant companion to Smudge for the previous 12 years, suddenly passed. Having been the one to find her body, to this day, tears surface immediately when my nine-year old daughter Katie thinks about that morning.

“Only Read’s body is gone,” I explained to the children. “Watch for her, listen, feel, and you will understand that our loving girl is still very much with us.”

Listening to a replay of James Van Praagh on The Aware Show yesterday I was reminded of this when James spoke of the Newtown angels. He spoke of a meditation he did that evening. His third eye (spiritual insight) showed him the peace of these angels. “They were never alone, they never suffered.” He told his audience. “And their spirits, who now exist on a safe and peaceful plane, also remain with their loved ones on this plane.” While this concept may be hard to wrap our minds around, I for one know this to be true.

From time to time someone in my family ‘sees’ Read dart down the stairs as she once did. When it is very quiet we can feel her presence on the couch or the floor next to where we are sitting. At times, when I am all alone, I swear, I can even hear her purring. The same is true for a beautiful cat Mike and I had when we were first married. She was Smudge’s first companion, and she too passed quite suddenly. Fourteen years later, every so often I still catch myself reaching out to pat her after hearing her distinct little voice begging for attention.

Whether we experience the presence of animals or humans, it is no different. Spirits can and do connect with us from the plane where they now dwell. It could be a quick streak of light racing down the stairs, the sound of a cat’s purr, or in my grandfather’s case, the distinct waft of Aqua Valva.

When I quiet my mind, as I did last night in my room, I am immediately joined with those I’ve loved and lost in human form.  Spirits of my grandfather, past pets, old friends, and the child Mike and I lost before he was ever born come to me in a flood of love. Their loving presence is so strong that my pets are as drawn to them as I am.

So I agree with James. As those who I loved so dearly at first seemed lost, so too do the Newtown angels to their parents, loved ones, and the world. But remember my friends, they are angels. And as we all know, angel live on forever.