To Honour a Promise

Her name was Muffy, an elderly sheep whose years of production had taken almost everything from her. Barely a slip of the sheep she was meant to be, she had devoted what little remained of herself to her baby boy, Duffy.

He was the thinnest lamb we had ever seen, yet surely one of the most loved.

Even as her own life slipped away, Muffy’s determination to protect him never wavered. She would hug him close, shuffling her frail body between her precious boy and anyone who approached. Her udder had long since run dry, leaving her unable to nourish him, and so she watched intently as we took on the task her failing body could no longer fulfil.

For when her body could give him no more, her love still had everything to give.

And so, knowing her time was short, we made her a promise.

We would make her boy well. We would give him the life he so richly deserved. And when she could hold on no longer, it would be all right to let go.

And dear Duffy, how beautifully you honoured your mumma.

Year after joyous year, you grew into the most affable of fellows, winning hearts with your gentle ways and reminding us that even the frailest beginnings can lead to the fullest of lives.

Earlier this year, a suspected stroke left its mark upon you. A drooping ear, a tongue that sometimes slipped from your mouth and a distinctive little drool became part of your story, but none of these could diminish the gentle being we had come to know and love as you.

Yet you carried on, in the way your kind so stoically do, with that same quiet determination your mumma had shown all those years before.

Until you couldn’t.

And then we knew.

The promise we had made was never simply to keep you alive, dear Duffy, but to give you a life worth living, and the courage and kindness to recognise when that life had reached its end.

Today, the last living part of Muffy’s beautiful story left this world.

If there is a place beyond this one, may you find her waiting, dear Duff-star, with the same fierce love that once held you close.

For a promise made in love does not end when it is fulfilled. It lives on in every life that love has touched.

Run free, beautiful boy. Your mumma would be so proud.