A Gentle Lesson Taught By Bob
If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram
you know that yesterday was a super sad day for my son.
His very first pet, a fish that he named Bob died yesterday.
He had been sick for several days and
we had made a trip to the pet store for some
“fish medicine” in hopes of helping the little guy.
Over the weekend, Sebastian repeatedly checked on Bob
several times throughout the day.
It seemed Sunday night that he was starting to look better.
We were all hopefully.
But yesterday morning, my husband and I were already awake
and were down stairs when we heard these words from the upstairs,
“Bob was dead.”
We went up to his room to see if he indeed was gone.
Sebastian said, “He was so sick. So he died?”
Yep.
Later that morning, I saw his Ipad laying in the hall.
He had typed a sentence with only 3 words but tons of emotion.
The first death of a pet.
It’s a hard lesson to learn about life, a rather painful one too.
And as parents we struggle to find the right words to explain.
As a child , there’s this lovely innocence of the meaning of death.
It may be something heard about but never experienced,
until we do.
We are confused and unsure of the feelings we are having,
and all we can say is, “I’m sad and I miss Bob.”
Even though a fish dying is sad,
part of me was glad that Bob was the first to teach my son about death.
I am grateful that Sebastian has never known the loss of a
friend, a grandparent, an aunt, or worse…a mom or a dad.
Bob taught my son a gentle lesson about the fact
that we are all here for only a moment.
Nothing is guaranteed, no day is promised.
Yes, the fish will be replaced with a simple trip to the pet store.
And eventually Bob, will be a memory as Sebastian enjoys his new pet fish.
But I know in the back of his mind this gentle lesson will be remembered.
