Last night...Jack discovered Max's beloved fish Nemo, Goldie, Brutus (his name has changed through the years) was floating at the bottom of his bowl. He has faked death more than once...but this time, it was real.
Scott is out of town this week so it was all on me. Why is it every single time one of our pets' dies he is out of town? Both hamsters, he was gone. Yep, poor timing Monsanto, poor timing.
So I shared with Max the news. He was devastated, sobbing on the floor devastated. Now for all we know he has been dead for a couple of days...and we hadn't even noticed...but...nonetheless at 5 years old...devastated.
Had I been on my "A game" I wouldn't have said a thing, I would have simply gone to the pet store this morning and replaced him and all would have been well. But I was tired, and not on my "A game" and so I chose to grieve with my baby boy. He asked if fish go to heaven, and to be honest I am not sure I have ever read scripture stating animals go to heaven...they can't really absorb the gift of Jesus can they? But I didn't get into any big theological discussion...I simply said "I know God created fish so maybe they are in heaven"...how is that? It wasn't enough for him so Jack added "When you get to heaven you can ask God where the fish are?" and that worked.
We had to FaceTime Daddy to share the news.
But then he wanted a funeral for his fish...he wanted to have a photo with his fish...he wanted to carry the fish in a procession from the sunroom to the bathroom where we would say our goodbyes. I offered a burial, but he thought maybe, just maybe if we flush him to the ocean he would come back alive in the ocean? Because we all know that when we flush the toilet it all goes to the ocean? Which is really gross if you think about it and makes me never want to be in an ocean again...but I digress.
We got the fish net out and he proceeded to the toilet. Then he asked if I would say a prayer about him and say things like at a funeral. At this point Jack stepped out of the bathroom as he was about to laugh so hard it would have been rude. And I was left alone...to say a few words. This is what I came up with.
"Thank you God for this beautiful orange fish. Thank you for making fish. Thank you for letting us take care of one of your fish. He was a very nice fish and he loved to swim in circles every single day. "....and I may have pulled a few other words out of the air to say as poor Max sobbed holding the fish net with Brutus in it. And then as Max flushed him, he laughed about how funny it was to see him swirl around the toilet and he was over it. Not one more tear since. Boys...
I am sorry you all could not attend such a lovely service, gratefully, the toilet was clean this day. With boys that is NOTever always the case.
I leave you today with our last moments with Brutus...
Scott is out of town this week so it was all on me. Why is it every single time one of our pets' dies he is out of town? Both hamsters, he was gone. Yep, poor timing Monsanto, poor timing.
So I shared with Max the news. He was devastated, sobbing on the floor devastated. Now for all we know he has been dead for a couple of days...and we hadn't even noticed...but...nonetheless at 5 years old...devastated.
Had I been on my "A game" I wouldn't have said a thing, I would have simply gone to the pet store this morning and replaced him and all would have been well. But I was tired, and not on my "A game" and so I chose to grieve with my baby boy. He asked if fish go to heaven, and to be honest I am not sure I have ever read scripture stating animals go to heaven...they can't really absorb the gift of Jesus can they? But I didn't get into any big theological discussion...I simply said "I know God created fish so maybe they are in heaven"...how is that? It wasn't enough for him so Jack added "When you get to heaven you can ask God where the fish are?" and that worked.
We had to FaceTime Daddy to share the news.
But then he wanted a funeral for his fish...he wanted to have a photo with his fish...he wanted to carry the fish in a procession from the sunroom to the bathroom where we would say our goodbyes. I offered a burial, but he thought maybe, just maybe if we flush him to the ocean he would come back alive in the ocean? Because we all know that when we flush the toilet it all goes to the ocean? Which is really gross if you think about it and makes me never want to be in an ocean again...but I digress.
We got the fish net out and he proceeded to the toilet. Then he asked if I would say a prayer about him and say things like at a funeral. At this point Jack stepped out of the bathroom as he was about to laugh so hard it would have been rude. And I was left alone...to say a few words. This is what I came up with.
"Thank you God for this beautiful orange fish. Thank you for making fish. Thank you for letting us take care of one of your fish. He was a very nice fish and he loved to swim in circles every single day. "....and I may have pulled a few other words out of the air to say as poor Max sobbed holding the fish net with Brutus in it. And then as Max flushed him, he laughed about how funny it was to see him swirl around the toilet and he was over it. Not one more tear since. Boys...
I am sorry you all could not attend such a lovely service, gratefully, the toilet was clean this day. With boys that is NOT
I leave you today with our last moments with Brutus...
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