Goodbyes from a 4-year old

Oh to have the perspective of a 4-year old.  

To not know the hurt or permanence of certain situations.

To see things at face value rather than feel things in the depths of your heart.

To have faith. To naturally pray.  To provide humor on a sad day.

Alekzander, Anderson, and Andrew were the bright spots of my day today. 

Alekzander for his humor and straightforwardness, 

and also for his faithfulness and sweetness.

Anderson for being pure joy; pulling on me, smiling at me, trusting me.

Andrew for being our family's rock and leader.

We had to make the difficult decision to say goodbye to our sweet 14 year old cat.

I struggled with this for close to a week, but our big guy was sicker than we knew.

We knew we didn't want him to suffer nor did we want to put Alekzander in a position

where he would be traumatized as Ryelee's health deteriorated.

Talking about death, even the death of a pet, and heaven is not an easy thing.

Talking about it with a four year old is hard, 

but we decided to be as honest as necessarily appropriate.

Before nap, I had Alekzander say goodbye to our good, good cat. 

He explained to Ryelee that he was going to have to go to the vet and maybe to heaven.

He promised that we'd send up meat to heaven for him 

(as we spent the last week hand-feeding him ham, turkey, and chicken).

He wagged his finger at Rye and told him not to scratch God or be mean.

He told him that God would give him "big, killed rats" to eat if he wanted.

We told Ryelee we loved him and that he would get to play 

in heaven with Harleigh and other animals soon.

After nap, we explained that the vet said Ryelee had to go to heaven.

"How did he get there?" 

"I don't know, but God took care of it; God loves the animals."

That was kind of the end of the conversation.

I think sadness may hit more in the coming days,

but in Alekzander's four years, he knows what heaven is and 

that it is something to look forward to,

whether our pets are there or not.  

He has a deep, wise heart.

At dinner, Alekzander prayed for God to take care of Ryelee 

and to remember to feed him good cat food.

At bedtime, Alekzander asked if there would be a comfy chair in heaven for Ryelee. 

And then said he cannot wait to pet Ryelee again.

Heart wrenching to hear, but so good for my soul

to be blessed by his sweet 4-year old perspective.

If pets do go to heaven, I hope there are Christmas trees for Ryelee to sleep under.

Head bonks from Jesus.  Snuggles with Harleigh. Lots of good meat to eat.

And a comfy chair to sleep in.

Patient Ryelee in his big, comfy chair.

December 2011.

Our first furry baby inherited from ATB and my parents.