Today did not start well. On most mornings, my daughter and I have a routine. A part of that routine is feeding the pets that are outside. I grab some grass for the rabbit and put it in her pen and check her water. The rabbit is never lying down in the pen. She is always sitting or hopping around. Today she was lying in the corner.
I thought, did she leave us in the night? I went to her and touched her. She was gone. She must have died sometime in the night.
So I had a decision to make. Do I tell my 11 year old that one of her pets was gone? Since the rabbit was spending every other night outside, it was not unusual for our daughter to not see her in the morning. I really did not want to ruin her school day by telling her what I found.
So she went to school and my wife picked her up at the usual time. We agreed we would tell her when we were both there to comfort her.
She was sad. But there were no tears. She wanted her dog to hold and the dog gave her numerous licks. Again, still no tears.
We decided we would take the rabbit to some nearby woods and give her back to nature. Our girl even pointed out that some animal would probably eat her.
No tears still. And now she is watching TV and talking about the summer.
She's not so little anymore.
