Fluffy

As a mother it is my job to pretty much keep everyone alive.  I feed.  I assess health.  I dispense medication, vitamins, probiotics.  I seatbelt and supervise teeth brushing.  And of course, I maintain the lives of plants and pets.  Plants, well, I go through a few per year.  Pets, they're a bit heartier.

We have a gecco who doesn't have to eat very often.  They say she (the pet guy told us how to know it is a girl) can live off the fat in her tail so I make it to the store for crickets about once a month.  Then there's the cat.  I love our kitty-Violet.  She was named by my 6 year old, Emory.  A sweet little thing who will bother you endlessly if her food dish is not full.  Then there is Daisy.  Daisy is, well, was our first hamster.  Bought with his own money, Emory got Daisy about 2 and 1/2 months ago.  She was still rather new.

Well, she didn't make it.  As you can imagine a 6 year old isn't great at taking care of a pet.  So I fed her when I remembered.   Daisy loved to empty her food dish as soon as I'd fill it up.  She, like any hamster, would hoard all her grain in her little burrow.   So it was hard to tell when she needed more.  So hard, that she didn't have any and she starved.  I felt awful.  Last night when I found her little body-still soft, I dreaded telling Emory.  How do you tell your little son that you killed his pet?  I felt like I failed.

I told him this morning and he handled it so well.  It was like a mini death.  I watched as he was shocked and upset, then wondered how and why.   He was curious to see the body and joked a little with his brothers.  He spoke of God and how He "knew".  It amazed me.  The entire grief period took about 30 minutes.  Then we buried Daisy in a shallow, marked grave and said some words of prayer.

A mini death.  A mini grief.  A mini funeral.  I love minitures.

Now we have Fluffy.  We got her this morning after burying Daisy.  She's really cute.  And she has a much bigger food dish.

Recently I've seen a few friends go through some really hard times while losing a loved one.  Death is so weird, yet the experience is so universal.  Everyone grieves in their own unique way because we are all unique.  But God does know-even the mini deaths.  And he gives the grace one needs.  A hamster is by no means a person.  And replacing the hamster certainly helped my son's (and my) heart to overcome.  But I think His grace is even sufficient in the big ones.

One day I will lose someone dear.  So will Emory.  I hope God's grace will be sufficient for me then.