Good-byes are never easy and today was no exception. Today we lost our dear goat friend Luna – also known as Luna-tickle, Looney-tunes, and Luna-tuna. Luna was a character who touched many lives. She had the unusual status of having been born right here on the farm and graced our lives for just shy of 16 years.
Luna’s mom came here when we were helping with a large rescue of several goats. The group of goats was here for only a few days when, much to our surprise, we found one of them going into labor. Out came this adorable super tiny little black and white kid. She was born on a full moon and we named her Luna. As she grew, her color changed to brown and white.
Luna had a very strong sense of what she liked and disliked in life and for what she wanted and didn’t want in her life as well. You could say that she was super opinionated. You could even say that she was pushy. But she also was a clown and had a fantastic sense of humor with just the right timing for serving up zingers. Luna had a way of always making her presence known. And when she felt things were getting far too serious, or people were not moving fast enough, or even sometimes just for the heck of it, she had a trade mark move of giving people a good butt in the behind – with a gleam in her eye.
Luna was a very down to earth, practical, kind of spirit. She was very honest and true to who she was. And she had a great way of making you feel special when she liked you. Luna participated in the annual gratitude messages from the animals that Dawn publishes each year from Thanksgiving to New Years. Her messages started earning her a following. One year, in the midst of a lot of philosophical answers by several of her stable mates, Luna gave a message about how much she was grateful for peppermints and put out a plea that some be sent to her as her deepest wish in life. Although it was said tongue in cheek, or peppermint in cheek in the case of Luna, people really responded. We were suddenly flooded by packages of peppermints in the mail from her loyal followers. We had so many peppermints that it was more than a one year supply for ALL of our barn animals who eat them.
With this, Luna took up her self-proclaimed title of chief animal fundraiser on the farm. This past week, Luna suddenly took ill. She had had some health problems due to aging over the past couple of years. But this was different. Bloodwork showed that she was in kidney failure. We knew our time with her was growing short. She was put on hospice care and given all she wanted or needed for her comfort and joy. Yesterday, she was reminiscing to Dawn about her amazing powers of asking for something and receiving it. She reminded Dawn about the peppermint caper and said she was so proud of that achievement. And she added that she came into this life wanting to have a happy life and that she created that in abundance too.
The last request she had of Dawn was to be sure that she could leave a legacy. She told Dawn to start a Luna Legacy Fund on her behalf to help all of the animals we could to find happiness. She told Dawn, “Happiness isn’t always about big things. Sometimes it is just a well-timed peppermint to know you are loved. Don’t make it complicated. Just do what I did. Ask people to help make an animal feel loved. Because they will have great joy knowing that they did. We will go higher and farther than peppermints this time! It will be a circle of happiness. That will be my legacy.”
This morning we knew that her body could no longer serve her brilliant spirit. We could no longer make her comfortable. It was time to help her be free and move on. Her caretakers came by one by one to let her know how loved she is. At the end, Dawn, Margot, and Dr. Christine held her and told her what an amazing girl she is and how she will always be loved. We thanked her for all the good times and the laughs and even the well placed butts in the behind. As she was being sedated, Dawn heard her crunching on something. Her friends had been feeding her peppermints and she saved some in her cheek. She looked up at Dawn, “Don’t forget my legacy. If I can create an abundance of peppermints, you can do more than that. You’ve got this.”
And our dear Luna left our embrace only to be held in our hearts forever. There is a hole in our smaller barn where she lived. She held a huge space. What a gift we had for almost 16 years. Thank you Luna for your joy, your guidance, and your amazing wish for a legacy to help other animals find the happiness that you so enjoyed.
And now we ask for your help in fulfilling Luna’s final wish. We have started Luna’s Legacy Fund to help give love and happiness to animals in her honor. Just as she asked us to do. Below is a link to our fund. If you can please help make her wish come true.