The Little Pet Chapel Backstory
Talking animals visited me in a dream and my soul woke to them. The beloved companions, all who I had once upon a time kissed goodbye, now guided my best furry friend Jaco and me down a forested path which led to a moonstruck lake. In a clearing near the water’s edge sat a small, elegant chapel crafted of wood. Space music streamed like liquid gold through the arched windows and I began to dance. Light as stardust, I floated up and touched the peak of the high ceiling, then gently spiraled down to begin again. Up and down I went until I woke laughing. It was 2010, and the seeds for The Little Pet Chapel Project had just been planted.
Life is but a dream.
But I didn’t decode the message of that dream or act on my interpretation of it until several years later. In the spring of 2015, my animal guardians, both the living ones and the spirit ones, began to demand more of my attention. I listened, but I didn’t know what they were asking of me. Being good teachers, they persisted. They encouraged me not only in dream time, but also in waking hours when I was driving, or working in the garden, or showering.
Energetic visits from my animals! Pure joy!
I researched possibilities for an animal stewardship program, something beyond my rescue experiences, but couldn’t visualize my place. It was only after experiencing five years of excruciating loss after loss – both parents, a dear friend, my two old horses, my best dog pal, my good health, and multiple jobs – that I began to work through my own tender and deep grief. During my darkest moments, I identified a need for supporting animals and their people during times of transition because I needed that for myself.
And the beloveds said, good listening.
Maybe Beloved Companions can secure foster or forever homes for those pets who are surrendered to shelters after their person transitions, I thought. Maybe I can volunteer with folks who are dying and decrease their anxiety by helping them secure the next best home for their beloved companions. (Good news! Pet Peace of Mind works with Hospices throughout the US to support that effort and more, and now shelters and rescues are beginning to address that need as well.)
The ideas flowed, but I struggled to find my footing in the stream.
Next, I considered going non-profit, but that didn’t fit. For-profit didn’t fit, either. I spoke with many business professionals and received good advice, but nothing resonated. The desire was there, but the vision was cloudy, and I didn’t know exactly what to manifest or how to manifest it.
In between the many false starts, my own beloved animal companions were sending me message after message in an effort to help clarify my vision. I still couldn’t see the path to move forward, but I began to trust that one day I would wake up and know the plan. And once I became more patient with the timing, the affirmations began to flow. Ah so, Wily Universe!
In 2016, my partner Jamie Cheshire (now my husband) and I created a memory garden and labyrinth in my front yard with room for a dimensional outdoor chapel. Friends and family began to really listen when I spoke about Beloved Companions. I began rescuing abandoned animal ashes from vet offices and painting memory stones to honor those and other animals who had died.
People shared stories about the animals they had loved and lost, and I became a better listener. I planted the garden, I painted the stones. I wrote stories and held close the simple Beloved Companions mission statement that I had created years ago.
Beloved Companions honors and supports the human/animal bond during times of transition.
But, how? How exactly do I honor and support? A friend told me about Dog Mountain in Vermont and I was completely blown away by Steve Huneck’s story and vision. I wanted our community to have a chapel, too. Jamie and I even built a prototype. But, I had no land and my pockets were shallow. Still, I didn’t sweat it. Sometimes manifestations take a while. I kept on keeping on.
One day many months later, I woke up knowing. I would build little pet chapels and install them in public places around our city and county to start, and then expand throughout the state, or region, or country. Visitors could participate by sharing the names and stories of the animals they loved, including the ones who had passed as well as the ones still living, or they could simply stop by and witness the heartfelt sentiments pasted to the walls and maybe read a personal story or two in the journal.
And now, many years after the first seeds were planted in the beautiful dream, Beloved Companions has moved forward in a solid, physical way! The City of Winston-Salem’s Parks and Recreation Department and Beloved Companions NC have signed a contract to build and install little pet chapels in public spaces throughout Winston-Salem and Forsyth County, North Carolina. To date there are four, and the requests for little pet chapels are flowing!
I am so grateful to steward this idea for my beloved companions, my teachers, my beyond humans. I am grateful to spiders, too. But that’s another story.
So grateful.
BIO
Animal guardian, published author, former restaurateur and active tracker Patricia Lynn Byrd (“Byrdie”) rarely follows the straightest path to anywhere. As a curious life-long learner, Lynn has earned an AAS in Veterinary Medical Technology, a BS dual major in Anthropology/Biology, certification from Potomac Horse center as both Horse Master and Riding Instructor and in her fifties, a MS in Holistic Nutrition. She has been involved with rescue efforts and schooled by animals for decades, but what she loves best is helping people connect with animals and nature and writing about the animal/human bond. Her favorite volunteer in the world is her really talented husband, Jamie Cheshire, but her heart belongs to her sweetest one, a Bernese Mountain dog known as Andra Baby.
Little Pet Chapels