Last night, we said goodbye to our sweet Irie. She was my first free-roaming pet—a loving companion, loyal, hilarious, “voluptuous,” and affectionate.
In Rastafarian language, Irie means:
1: To be at total peace with your current state of being. The way you feel when you have no worries. 2: Powerful and pleasing. 3: Excellent, highest. 4: The state of feeling great. 5: IRIE stands for I Respect I Eternally. Meaning you have respect for yourself; being happy with who you are. 6: To be at peace and harmony with your self and the status quo of your existence. 7: Jamaican term for everything is good, higher self, serenity. 8: To be happy, to be high, most commonly used by Jamaicans.
Her name could not have been more fitting.
I never before could have comprehended how it feels to make the tough decision to help a pet by ending her suffering. It sucks, for real. I can’t quite look anywhere in the house without remembering how she loved to sit on the ottoman near the window, or how she’d come running when she heard the plastic bowl for her wet food come out of the cabinet.
There’s not much sense in me hashing over the details of the sad trip to the vet emergency room or describing the aftermath as Kevin and I bumble around the house, trying to adjust to the encompassing silence without her purring. We are just trying to remember the meaning of her name, for that is the gift she brought to us—A feeling of peace and harmony.
Instead, I will simply post this song—Feel Irie, by Lucky Dube:
How long shall you carry
That burden on your shoulders?
How long shall those tears
Keep running down
Your beautiful face?
We all have troubles
Now and again, know what I’m saying?No matter how hard we try,
Trouble will find us one way or another.
People had troubles since the pope
Was an altar boy
People had worries from when the
Dead Sea was only critical
Hear those drums running and
Listen to those guitars skanking
Yeah… Put a smile on your face
Don’t let the troubles get you down
Shoop shoop doo doo
Put a smile on your face
Don’t let the troubles get you downLet me tell you how we feel
We feel irie
Irie!
We feel irie
Irie!
We feel irie yeah yeah
Irie
We feel so irie
Irie!Tell me,
Do you feel like we do?
Do you feel like we do?
I say,
Do you feel like we do?No man can hide from his fears
Since they are part of him
They always know where to find him,
Come on walk tall and
Keep your head highI tell you again and again
Put a smile on your face,
Don’t let the troubles
Get you down
Shoop shoop doo doo
Put a smile on your face,
Don’t let the troubles
Get you downWe feel irie
Irie!
We feel irie yeah
Irie!
We feel irie
Irie!
We feel irie yeah
Irie!Tell me,
Do you feel like we do?
Do you feel like we do?
Tell me now,
Do you feel like we do?
’cause we feel irie
Irie!
We feel irie yeah
Irie!
We feel irie
Irie!
We feel so irie
Irie!Do you feel like we do?
listen now,
Put a smile on your face,
Don’t let the troubles
Get you down
Shoop shoop doo dooPut a smile on your face,
Don’t let the troubles
Get you down
shoop shoop doo dooPut a smile on your face,
Don’t let the troubles
Get you down
shoop shoop doo doo