We wanted to share a note and photo we received today from a customer in Washington. Michelle was ordering a set of flags to be sent to a friend who had lost a pet recently and she included this note to us: "We received our flags from our Bo's massage therapist after his passing and thought it was/is such a neat idea and very comforting!  Bo's flags are hanging on his favorite tree he liked to lay under and watch the world go by (and hopefully get a few kids to come hang with him)."

Thanks for sharing with us Michelle. Bo looks like a special guy, you must miss him a great deal.

We just wanted to share this festive photo that a wonderful customer sent in recently to honor Quincy. What a great way to remember a lost friend during the holidays. We've never seen our Pet Prayer Flags on a Christmas tree before but it seems quite appropriate. Thank you so much Teresa for sharing.

     We love our business, it has a heart for us. Losing a pet can be so devastating, so numbing, so unbearably sad. But knowing that in some small way our flags are helping kind, caring people with their loss means a great deal to us. We have gone through the grief too many times ourselves and we know deep down how the ache does not go away entirely, ever.
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     Occasionally we get emails from people who have either given or received a set (or more) of our flags and their notes of appreciation always brings us back to why we have this business, why we love this business. Here is a note we received not long ago:

"Although I hate to hear friends or family or loved ones of mine have lost a pet, I'm thankful to have you and the Prayers on the Wind flags to send them.  Someone sent my husband and I a set when we lost our beloved Golden Retriever Max and it gave us great comfort.  It hung outside on our deck for years until it was in tatters.  It now wraps around his urn in our den." 
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    This came in today's emails:

"I very much appreciate that you still offer me a way to send a special, heartfelt symbol of my love and care.
After 3 years the prayer flags for my kitties still hang over the kitchen window. I still miss my kitties every day. I am so grateful that they were in my life. My husband passed away last November and I miss them even more. They helped me through so many hard times. I sent prayer flags for the graves of my son’s pets. That gesture meant a great deal to him and his wife. I hope that you both are doing well. Please know how much your prayer flags mean to me. Thank you."
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     When Alex left us sixteen years ago we were crushed and had no reason to expect anything good to come from it but we both feel that it was him that gave us the idea for our prayer flags and each time we send out a set of flags to someone who is grieving we also feel that we are honoring Alex's memory and acknowledging that in fact he is still with us. 

     It's been nearly three months since Grace left us and we still think of her every day. I suppose it shouldn't come as a surprise given all the years she was with us but there are ups and downs with this grieving process. Some days she is gently in the background of our daily doings and thoughts. Some days she is right there by our side, her ear soft, velvet warm to the touch, looking up with hopes of a biscuit or a walk. We think mostly of all the things she did right but she had one trait that was not endearing: taking a long walk with Grace in the woods was a lot like taking a long walk alone.
      When we lived in northwest Montana we would take Grace for walks every day, she loved to walk the old logging roads that meandered through thick forests of tamarack and lodgepole pine that blanketed the hills  around our small town. "Walk" isn't really the right word. She ran. And she ran. Grace was not one to stay close, she was always off in the distance somewhere giving away her presence only by a rustle of dry grass or a fleeting gray streak through the tree trunks and we used to yell for her to come back. And we would yell some more. She never really lost us, we're convinced, but as far as we could tell she was gone for good. Sometimes we'd hide behind a tree and just wait until she came running back, hopefully frantic to find us. And we'd wait. And wait. Slowly it would dawn on us that we must look like fools with our shoulder against a sappy tree trunk, peering around the bark looking for a dog that really had no interest in finding us. Then we'd step out and start hollering again. She'd eventually come sauntering back with a look that said "Such a fine morning for a nice walk and what is all that yelling about? What's that over there? A squirrel?!"
     I found this image in our files today and suddenly she was alive again, running down the path, doing what she loved to do most. But this time she isn't coming back no matter how hard we yell . . .

At long last we have updated our website with a new look and some new fangled extras like this blog and an actual contact form and links to our Facebook page. We feel like we've stepping into the 21st century at last.

To start off this new chapter we want to give thanks for the love of a wonderful girl who left us on January 30, 2016. Her name was Grace and she blessed us with 15 years of love and laughter. She was a German Wirehair Pointer that was a delight from the moment she got in the car with us as a three month old puppy. Having just flown to Montana from Kansas all by herself in a small kennel you would have thought she would have been frightened and nervous when she arrived at the ticket counter. Nope. She stood in Vicki's lap and looked out the window in eager anticipation of all that was before her. She was a part of our lives right from the start as if it was meant to be. And of course it was. We will miss her bright eyes and soft ears and greeting us at the front door with a shoe in her mouth. She was something special. . .