YESTERDAY, I ATTENDED A FUNERAL OF SORTS....I did not really feel like trying to pull myself together, get out of bed and do so. After all....it was for a Hamster called Rhino. I went because Aiden, 9, called late the night before, crying, and needing to share with me that his pet had passed. This was his first understanding of death. Not his first touch of it. 2 years earlier, his cousin Hendrick made unfortunate international news by being a child shot in movie theater in Mexico City at the debut of Wreck It Ralph. A kind, loving, intelligent child. He was preparing to sing Imagine at a school talent show the following week but took a random bullet in the head before the show was over. Aiden understood he wasnt there to talk to on the phone anymore, but was too young to grasp its real meaning. There was a solemn ceremony, prayers, and throwing dirt on the box with the age old ashes to ashes statement and a stone provided by a friend. There was even discussion. Although I only see Death as a transitory condition, there is still a need to acknowledge that transition. Never having been one much for ceremony, I still understand that part of it is for us...a way to cope with not being able to reach out and touch the ones we love anymore, no matter where we think them to be. Aiden needed that. One of my neighbors sent a sympathy card and a $5 certificate for Dairy Queen. He requested time to be alone with Rhino after the burial to talk with him. We obliged. Later, I said to my daughter...Why did you buy him a pet that only would live 2 years??? She smiled--sadly-- For this very reason, she replied. So he would understand, one day, the bigger losses. Well said, Rosanna. I sprinkled a little dirt on the burial site myself. I smiled a little too and said, under my breath,...See ya later, little guy.
Posted on: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 13:10:27 +0000
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