Life Lessons...and the ones that SUCK!

Yesterday was a typical morning around the Acres, I got up, turned on the kettle went to the bathroom gently booting the cat out of the way, telling him to get his ass out of the water dish. Sitting down to see him still laying there, not getting up to purr, not greeting me, just laying there with his ass in the water. This isn't really uncommon for our MonNom...aka numbskull. He often fell asleep with something sticking in the water...often let you boot him across the floor and out of your way as he would stretch across the stairs...boobytrapping someone for a fall on the stairs..yes I kicked my cat yesterday...and then he did not get up.

I called My Love picking up the cat to hear him wince, and then vomit..just bile and then nothing. My love declaring it poison, my eyes filling with tears realizing..our beloved cat was dying on the bathroom floor.

Even worse...this was Aspen's cat, her best buddy, the cat she dressed as a doll lugging him through their day in a basket as he purred and cuddled no matter what she did. Sharing little tea parties as she snuck some milk for his cup, he was her Best Friend.

Now as a parent I am a firm believer in REAL LIFE. Not this raising my kids in a bubble without any reality based experiences. We do not hide our kids from real life, and let them be exposed to a great many things, teaching them along the way, how to handle things, but mostly letting them decide on their own how they would choose to react. Nothing could have prepared me for this, for telling my sweet little Jane that she would be facing the worse truth ever...Life doesn't always go on forever.

She knew, from my tears the truth, she knew that she would have to say good bye to her friend, and she knew that it would not end well. I gave her time and space, and explained how things were. We agreed to give our kitty some time, hoping the rest he needed to heal, hoping for a sign it was not all over, the end of the road. But it was, a couple hours later there were no signs of improvement, our precious friend seemed more stress, struggling to hold on. I explained to Jane who was hoping he would just let go, that we could take him next door. She was quite concerned that he could not die in our house, she did not want to remember him that way. She agreed it was time to let him go, to say goodbye. Shortly after Jane came to me with tears in her eyes, asking me not to call the neighbour to call Daddy , who was out on the ice prepping the shack. I looked into my little girls eyes as she seem to age years in front of me.
"mama I know Mon Nom is not just going to the neighbours, and I do not want him to take care of my cat. Can you please call Daddy, because I think I want Dad to be the one...the one to shoot my cat, its time to let MonNom be at peace"

I am crying again now, so proud, so sad, so mad...so impressed that even at a time when my little girls heart was breaking her wisdom of love shone thru, she took the time, the thought and the caring to see what was right, and when she was ready she let go and said goodbye.

we are not talking about it today, because 'the tears just do not want to stop' but we will be picking a special pic in our collection of our beloved MonNom, a part of our family lost...to life and its lessons...sometimes they really SUCK!

just wanted to shout out to all my online friends, who sent such kind words and thoughts when I shared our news...it means more than you will ever know, I could feel the cyber love and it really helped me make it thru the crappy day! xox