Heidi Cherry & Vaya | Goodbye Rayla

This is a very sweet story about Natalie's pet rat Rayla dying. It is a gentle story about the death of a pet, and how we can make death a celebration versus being sad and upset. The cats along with lots of Rayla's other friends all come together to celebrate their friend and how awesome she was. After the gathering, the cats go home. That night Cherry has a very endearing dream, she finds herself flying through the sky with Rayla, eating clouds along the way!

Trigger Warning: This practice may include references to death, dying, and the departed.

Transcript

Are you ready to meditate with Corrie?

Make sure that you get all comfortable and snug in your bed.

Settle down so that you can relax your body and you can let go of your busy day.

It was a very solemn day at Natalie and Naomi's house.

The cats were there,

Lots of other rat friends were there.

Sid the sloth was there,

All the rats from the farm were there.

Unfortunately,

Rayla,

Natalie and Naomi's pet rat,

Had passed away.

They were having a goodbye ceremony.

They decided,

All of them,

The cats,

Naomi,

Natalie,

They all decided that they were going to make it a happy occasion,

Not something to be sad about.

A time to celebrate Rayla's life.

Natalie had dug a hole in the garden,

All the way at the bottom of the garden,

Underneath a really pretty tree and that's where Rayla was going to be buried.

They placed her in a shoebox.

Inside of the shoebox was lots of tissue so it was nice and soft for Rayla to lay on.

They put flowers all around a little rat body.

There was a stone in there that Cherry had found that was very cute and it was shaped like a love heart.

In fact,

Everyone in the group there at Rayla's celebration had brought something special to put in the box with Rayla before she went into the ground.

They put the box in the ground and put dirt over the box and everyone sat round in a big circle and started to tell stories,

Funny stories,

About their experiences and all the wonderful things that Rayla had gotten up to with each one of them there present at her goodbye celebration.

Cherry said,

Oh right,

You know what?

Oh,

It was so funny one time.

We were over here right and we were playing on the back garden and we were all trying to play hide and seek and Rayla was like,

I just want to stay with you.

How about even if it's my turn to find everyone,

I just stay with you and I'm like,

Rayla,

OMG,

That's not the point of hide and seek.

You're supposed to be like supposed to be like hiding.

You're not supposed to be like stuck to me.

For some reason that day,

She really liked my OMG t-shirt.

She kept crawling up it and every time she crawled up it,

She tickled my armpits and I could not stop laughing and at one point she ran around my back underneath my t-shirt and her little tiny ratty,

Ratty nails were tickling on my back and I almost peed myself laughing.

It was so funny.

She really did like my OMG t-shirt.

I really liked that about Rayla.

She was so cute like that,

Heidi said.

One time I was sat reading a book and it was a lovely day.

The sun was shining.

I sat on the grass just like we are now and I was reading a book all about cooking pancakes.

It was a really interesting book.

Rayla and Dolly were sat next to me on the ground.

They were sunbathing.

Rayla was laid on her back with her little legs up as if she was soaking in the sun.

I was reading the book out loud.

She liked it when I did that.

I don't know whether she was really interested in pancakes or just liked the fact that someone was reading to her but she really liked it.

She looked very happy,

Veya said.

There was one time right where she let me paint all of her little toenails.

She looked so cute,

Said the sloth said.

My favourite thing was that Rayla was so fast,

Very much not like me.

I would like to sit and just watch how fast she ran all over the place and she always looked so happy.

Dolly,

The sister,

Said that she just loved everything about her and then looked at the next person next to her as if to say,

It's your turn.

They went all around the circle.

It came to Natalie's turn to say something in celebration of her pet rat.

Natalie was a little bit sad and upset.

She was holding back her tears.

Cherry got up and walked around and sat next to Natalie and just put a paw on her knee as if to say,

We're here for you.

Natalie said that her favourite thing about Rayla was,

Well,

Everything.

She was just awesome and she was going to miss her.

When everyone had done speaking about their friend,

They went inside of the house and had all of Rayla's favourite snacks and they talked and told stories.

And then when it was time to leave,

The cats gave Natalie and her little sister,

Naomi,

Big hugs and kisses and they went home.

When they got home,

They showered off the day and they brushed their teeth and got into their big,

Soft,

Comfortable cat bed.

They talked about how bittersweet the day was,

How it was happy,

But then also sad that they were going to miss their friend.

And eventually they fell to sleep.

Cherry was dreaming.

In her dream,

She was flying through the sky and she had big,

Big,

Strong wings.

Like she was a giant eagle or a big night owl or something.

She wasn't flapping her wings around at all.

She was just soaring through the sky.

And over there on her left was Rayla.

Rayla was flying too,

Soaring through the sky.

She didn't have wings.

She just had a normal rat body and a long rat tail.

And she had the biggest smile on her face.

There was a big,

White,

Fluffy cloud ahead and they both flew straight through the middle of it.

They found themselves stuck in the middle of a giant marshmallow.

Cherry cracked out laughing.

OMG!

I'm stuck!

Rayla said.

Yeah,

So am I!

Cherry said.

I can't think of a better place to be stuck,

Can you Rayla?

Rayla said.

No,

This is awesome!

Cherry started to lick the marshmallow that was squishing all around her face.

She looked at Rayla.

Rayla was doing the same.

They were both laughing really loud.

This is the best dream ever!

Said Cherry.

Rayla said.

Oh,

This is not a dream.

This is where I live now.

I live in the marshmallow clouds.

Thanks for coming to see me.

Cherry said.

You mean I'm not dreaming?

Well,

How the heck am I flying?

Rayla said.

Oh yeah,

You're dreaming.

But I'm not.

Did you know that every cloud has a different flavour?

It's so awesome up here and I have the best view of everything down below.

I can watch my sweet,

Lovely Natalie and Naomi and I can see my sister from here,

Dolly.

I watch her all the time.

She looks a little bit sad and lonely,

But I think Natalie's going to get her some new right friends.

So I'm okay.

I'm happy.

And every cloud is so tasty and I just puff from one cloud to another.

Did you know I can fly without wings?

Cherry said.

Yeah,

I noticed.

I noticed that because I've got like these big giant wings,

Right?

And they're so strong and they're so awesome and I'm like,

Oh,

I knew I'd have wings because how else am I going to fly?

I'm a cat.

Cats don't fly.

Cats don't fly.

Rayla said.

Yeah,

But I have wings and I can fly.

So doesn't that tell you?

That tells you,

Doesn't it?

It tells you that I'm here in the sky.

This is like my afterlife.

It's so nice.

I love it.

This is my favourite cloud.

This marshmallow cloud right here tastes like really strong vanilla and I really like it.

It's like vanilla ice cream or something.

So pleasant.

And then that cloud over there,

Even though it looks like a normal cloud from the outside,

It's not,

You know,

It's,

It's peanut butter flavour.

Oh my gosh.

I love peanut butter.

And I,

I landed in that cloud,

Right?

And I was like,

Oh,

This must be heaven.

And then all the other rats that do this,

That are here with me.

I'm not alone,

By the way.

There's so many hundreds of rats that do this.

I didn't know that rats like to fly around in clouds that taste nice.

Anyway,

They do.

And I was like,

Oh my gosh,

Is this heaven?

And another rat that I met,

She's so nice.

She's called Susie.

Susie said,

No,

This is not heaven.

Well,

Actually,

Yeah,

It is.

It is heaven because I love peanut butter.

And I said to Susie,

I love peanut butter.

And she said,

Did you know that that one over there is cheese flavour?

And I said,

No way.

And she said,

Yeah,

Way.

And since then we've been best friends.

Anyway,

Yeah.

So if you do remember this dream,

When you wake up,

Cherry,

Do me a favour.

Will you tell Natalie that I'm good?

I'm actually great.

I'm not in pain.

I'm not unhappy.

I see her all the time.

And I get to fly in different clouds.

And all she has to do is look up at the sky and she'll know that maybe I'm in the marshmallow cloud.

Maybe,

Maybe it's the peanut butter cloud.

Maybe it's,

It's the cheese cloud.

There's so many of them.

In fact,

There's that many clouds.

If you think about it,

Cherry,

Look at the sky.

There's hundreds of them.

I'm going to be up here doing this for years.

And I still won't reach every cloud and every flavour.

So tell her not to worry about me.

But I'm really good.

Cherry said.

Oh,

OMG,

Rayla.

I will.

I'll remember.

I promise.

I'll remember,

Right?

To tell her that.

In fact,

I'll call her when I wake up in the morning.

I'll call her first thing and I'll say,

Natalie,

Don't you worry.

You're our bestest little ratty.

She's up there in the sky eating marshmallows as we speak.

Rayla said.

Oh,

That's great.

Thanks.

Thanks so much.

That makes me feel so much better because I don't want it to be sad because,

You know,

I mean,

It's not nice,

Is it?

Anyway,

Yeah,

It's time for you to wake up.

Poof!

Rayla disappeared and Cherry woke up.

It was still the middle of the night.

She got up and went and had a pee and then got back to bed,

Settled down next to her sisters and laid there for a minute,

Thinking if that's what it's like when you die,

Then maybe it's pretty darn cool.

It made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside,

Knowing that her friend Rayla was in a good place.

Actually,

She was in a great place.

And then Cherry fell fast asleep once again.

The end.

Reviews

I'm so amsad:) my car Chloe was sick so we had to put her down today and now I don't know what I'm going to do with her

Sid the what was there? Was he a SLOTH 🦥????????but there so slow. That Poor Rayla! I don’t really know what happened because I fell asleep! 💤 😂🤣😅🥲🥹😆It was really good (the part that I heard!🤣) I t was very peaceful!😌 And relaxing!😌

Is this true? Because that sounds like so much fun!!!!!!!!

Thank you for the story

Are all of them real? And do you do all of their voices?

My dog died this year I am very sad 😞 but I know Mahayana she is watching me

Q: have you ever had a pet pass

Winnie

That was awesome and sorry to bother you but can you maybe make a Sexuality one it would make me feel a little bit more normal because I am pansexual so if u can omg TYSM but if not that is a ok to thank you so much

~Anjali (or Peter Pan)❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999/10

And I lost my dog when I was 3 I am still very sad she was a good girl

Good I just don’t like hearing the word death dead or die

This was brilliant 🤩
It made us laugh and helped us to relax and fall into a deep sleep 😴
Thank you 😊

I love it and I don’t really like marshmallows but can you ask rayla to bring me some clouds?maybe chocolate vannila ice cream any flavours work

Eii like how you talk about thise things but in the best way posible

Loved it

Really beautiful. Takes out the bright side of losing a family member

Good but sad,
Cory can you ask Rayla to give the some cloud peanut butter? Sounds better that earth peanut butter!

I loved it, but (I'm sorry) who’s Rayla??? I think I was the first person to play it but I’m not sure

Love it, but I’ve always had a fear of death. I was kind of confused, because is Rayla a cat, a dog or a rat🐈?🐕?🐀?please tell me if there is a other story that I should have listened to before this please 🙏 tell me do u like marshmallows I personally don’t 😡😡😡😡😡ughhh I just found out there is no marshmallow emoji
-Maddie/Madeline

Wow I loved it I have not really dealt with pet deaths but my dad’s mom passed away and it was very sad but it’s good to know that she’s in heaven with my dad’s dad playing cards
Ty love ceci

Oh my, poor Rayla. I’ve been though that before. I WANT MARSHMALLOWS!!

That was great loved the story I found it helpful I also lost my grandpa and my dog and I know what it’s like to have lost someone you love

I loved when you said Sid the sloth because I love him and that movie can you do one where they go to the movie theater and watch that movie and then they like get sucked into i pls Becky’s kid:):)

I love it so much Cory! I am getting two teeth pulled tomorrow.😣🦷