Goodbye Brodie

We made the hardest decision I think we have ever had to make yesterday, we took our sweet Brodie to the vet to be put down after we realized he was finally losing his long battle with cancer. Actually "we" didn't take him, I couldn't bare to go with. Taylor and I stayed home and cried while he went with Daddy. We said our goodbyes, the best way we could, by petting him on his head and letting him eat his last meal of tuna which he loved. We was so sick that he was starting to have a very bad odor and it was very hard to snuggle him, and I think that made me the most upset because I just wanted to give him a tight squeeze and lots of kisses. I explained to Taylor that Brodie was going to die and go to heaven. I didn't want to make something up like we have had to do in the past when various pets have passed away ( frogs, fish, and Lenny the Lobster--yes, a lobster ), I wanted her to know the truth. I did reassure her that heaven was a happy place and since I knew Brodie's Mom had died a while back I comforted her by letting her know he would be with his Mommy and she had been waiting for him. My heart broke for her because she began to cry uncontrollably when she realized he wasn't coming back.

Today has been a bit better. I still expect to see him when I pull into the driveway, or expect to hear him crying to come in at the garage door in the morning. There are still tuffs of his hair left on some of our carpet upstairs--I would usually clean it up right away but I have just left it there for now, to remember him in a strange sort of way. Taylor said she wanted him to come home, and that was hard.

Apparently Taylor was telling some of the older girls at rehearsals today about Brodie going to heaven, one of the 9 year olds shared that with me and I was a bit surprised that among all the chaos and fun of the rehearsal her mind was still focusing on her kitty. She told me that another little girl told Taylor that it would be ok because her Kitty was also in heaven and that they could play together now. How sweet is that? Children are smarter then we give them credit for, that was probably the best thing she could have said to Taylor to make her feel better... it made me feel better too.