Over Rainbow Bridge

Instrumentation: Oboe, Viola, Harp

Duration: 5:40

Performances:

Members of the International Contemporary Ensemble
The Walden School Creative Musicians Retreat 2023

Program Notes:

My wife and I are on a mission to rescue as many senior animals as we can and give them the love and attention they deserve in their final years. In our almost seven years of marriage, we have had four cats and four dogs (although never that many at once). Our cat Willow, whom we adopted in early 2017, was our first senior. She was 14 when we rescued her and almost 20 when she passed in the summer of 2022. Lulu (14) followed in 2019, passing from cancer later that same year, then Toby (12) in the spring of 2020 who passed from a nasal tumor in 2022 at the age of 14. In December of 2022 we rescued Princess Buttercup, a spunky 15-year-old Beagle/Jack Russell terrier mix. Our first pet together was Nubbins. We adopted her shortly after our wedding and while she wasn’t a senior then, at the age of 14 she certainly is now. We also have two more cats, Sawadee (around 7) and Pearl (around 3). Our dog Luna was only 3 when we adopted her in 2018 and she’s already starting to get white stars on her muzzle.

In addition to these pets my wife and I have rescued, I grew up with animals. We had a cat named Mrs. Abe (due to a black chin against beautiful white fur on her face giving the illusion of a beard) and a dog named Libby (another Beagle). Mrs. Abe passed in 2007 and Libby in 2010. Just before Libby’s passing, we adopted two kittens, Scout and Finnegan. Finnegan and I bonded and were inseparable. He passed from a sudden stroke in 2021 – Scout is still doing fine although she misses her brother. In 2010 my sister and her husband adopted a dog named Sawyer. He passed just at the time of writing

. Needless to say, after all of the love we give to these wonderful souls, losing them is profoundly difficult and painful. The Queen (who we also lost in 2022) said that “grief is the price we pay for love,” and after losing six beloved pets during my life I can say with some authority that the grief is a fair price to pay for their love.

I’m not a religious man but I find the concept of “rainbow bridge” to be comforting. I can see them all in my imagination. Toby and Lulu are chasing squeaker toys while Libby eagerly eats Pup-Peroni treats and Sawyer chews on a pillow. Willow and Mrs. Abe are sleeping in the sun and Finnegan is running free. I can see myself there too, reunited with these souls who made me who I am, as we go over rainbow bridge together.

Kyle Wernke April, 2023