I recently suffered the loss of my little furry friend and companion with whom I had shared my life for the past 17 years. Needless to say, I was very sad and depressed to have lost my little cat-friend, Sissy. I have had and lost other cats in my life, but she was really someone special and the loss of her left a large hole in my life and in my heart.

I posted about my loss on Twitter as a simple expression of my grief. What I received back from people on Twitter – all virtual strangers who I will probably never have the privilege of meeting face-to-face in the “real world,” was nothing short of life and heart changing.

My Twitter friend, @SimonDevon75 sent me the following beautiful piece of prose that broke my heart all over again, while at the same time healing that broken heart:

What moves through us is a silence, a quiet sadness, a longing for one more day, one more word, one more touch, we may not understand why you left this earth so soon, or why you left before we were ready to say good-bye, but little by little, we begin to remember not just that you died, but that you lived. And that your life gave us memories too beautiful to forget.

Another Tweeter whom I have come to know over the past year, @Kilanalu, also sent me her love and support even though she, herself, had just suffered the loss of her brother.

This morning, I had a beautiful and life-changing exchange with a few other Twitter friends, some that I have known for awhile and some that I just met this morning through this exchange. My friends, @Atomic_Honey & @Atomic_Twlrbee, along with new friends, @Ravenval & @Marousia shared their special “garden” with me and introduced me to the word/concept of “Heartshine.”

Heartshine, to me, represents the wonderful and warm feeling that occurs in one’s heart when the outpouring of love from others is shared and received in one’s own heart. That is certainly the feeling that I experienced this morning. Sometimes, especially at times of loss, we can feel like life has lost its meaning and/or specialness. My experience of “Heartshine” this morning has given me a renewed sense of what life is really all about. In the end, the only thing that really matters is love – and love can only be expressed and experienced when there are others to share it with.

Thank you so much, my beautiful friends. I truly love you all.