I had the following conversation today with Tinni and Ranger

Alys: Tinni, Ranger, how are you two doing?
Tinni, Ranger: Just fine.
A: What are you doing here?
R: We haven’t left yet.
A: Why stick around, it’s really cold.
T: I’m not cold; Ranger, are you?
R: I’m not cold.
A: Are either of you hungry?
R: Nope.
T: Nope.
A: Why are both still here?
T: We can’t leave until you stop grieving.
A: Who says I’m grieving?
R: It is evident. You seem really sad and so our spirits remain.

Alys with Tinni and Ranger

A: Where will you go once I am no longer sad?
T: We don’t know.
A: Doesn’t this worry you?
T: Nope.
R: Nope.
A: Why is this?
T: Our spirits have been freed of our bodies, and our bodies have been freed of our spirits.
R: In the next phase of our lives, we will most likely join the others.
A: Who are the others?
T: The animals who lived with us previously.
A: All of them?
R: All of them.
A: Even the chickens?
T: Yes, even the chickens.
A: So, you have left your physical selves behind, and your spirituals selves will soon follow.
T: Correct.
A: And you are sure about this?
R: Absolutely.
T: I am better off now, where I am, although I’m sad, to see you so sad. And I can’t take leave of here, as I should, until you cease to mourn my physical absence.
R: Well said Tinni.
A: Tinni, I miss seeing you standing in the enclosure, waiting for your breakfast. And Ranger, I miss seeing your head sticking up over your stall door. I feel a great sense of loss.
R: You are going to have to get over it.
A: Easier said than done.
T: You need to move on.
A: What if I joined you?
T: Not a good idea. Not a good idea at all.
R: It’s actually a bad idea.
A: Why is that?
T: The other animals need you.
A: You think so? What if I found them better homes before I left?
R: They would then grieve
T: And then you’d be stuck between the two worlds, as we are now.
A: But I would no longer be grieving. And so your spirits would then be released.
T: My advice to you is for you to stay where you are, stop grieving, and enjoy the company of the animals that are in your care.
R: I think that’s very good advice.
A: I’m not sure I want to stay here.
T: I don’t think that it’s your time.
R: Who are you to say?
A: I think my fate is my decision.
T: Okay. So it looks like we’ll be sticking around for a while.
R: That is until you move on and resume living in the present. The past is just an illusion.
A: And the future?
R: The same.
T: The same.
A: And the present?
T: The present is good.
R: Yes, the present is good.

Next: 346. 12/17/22: Build it and they will come, again