*Sigh* - William's guinea pig died on March 29th. Like me, he holds a lot of his emotions inside. My release is to write poetry. His is to draw. I am happy to report that he finally seems to be moving on from this whole guinea pig heartbreak. How do I know? He took up residence in the guest room the night Squeaker died, because he didn't want to sleep in the "dead" room. (How did I NOT foresee this might happen? Where else would you keep your very first pet?)Yesterday morning he asked if I could wash his sheets and blankets and "make everything all new again." I did. He helped me make the bunk beds after his bath and finally, after more than a month away, went back to sleeping in his room. Hallelujah! He did not sleep through the night, however. He woke up crying and asked (once again) why Squeaker had to die. Then he asked when he could get another pet. There it is--my second piece of evidence that he's moving on. My 8-year old is ready to risk his heart again. I know he's sad, but this was a lovely thing to hear.
Now the only question that remains is this--how do I make sure I'm ready?
Man, it must be so hard to understand how something you love has a much shorter lease on life... *sigh* Good luck, Mom.
ReplyDeleteMy heart goes out to William. Sounds like he's indeed still in the process of working through this trauma, and taking little steps to move forward. Sad to hear about him crying in the middle of the night. Hope a new pet will help.
ReplyDeleteOh, dear. That is a hard one. My daughter is concerned about one of our cats who has been a little sickly. I'm sure we'll face this situation soon enough. Sounds like you are doing everything you can to help him through his sorrow.
ReplyDeletePoor William. This is one of the hardest, saddest lessons he'll learn in life, having his heart broken and still opening it to love, knowing it will happen again.
ReplyDeleteMy 10yr old (9 at the time) recovered quickly and wanted a new hamster right away. However, one day recently - six months past the untimely demise of Hamster #1 - I asked her if she ever thought about Honey. She admited that she did think about her and it made her sad, and that when she told her friends about he hamster that she didn't like saying Honey's name because it felt more real. It broke my heart that she has this little sadness to live with.
ReplyDeleteI'm actually worse about it. The new hamster isn't as laid-back as the first and so makes me miss the first one. I also have the Mom Guilt of What I Could Have Done to Prevent this Tragedy. It gets better, but it sounds like your son is a real sensitive soul and will take it hard. But that is part of having a pet and part of life itself - which I remind myself to little comfort.